Never Fading
by ChristmasInHollywood
Summary: Angel is forced to turn Buffy in Graduation Day. Buffy intends to keep living her life as normally as possible, but how can she when everything is so different now? Starts angsty, but goes very fluffy after a while. Uber BA. R&R. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

AU after Graduation Day part 2.

After draining her, Angel has no choice but to turn Buffy. What will happen to her and how will they, and the rest of the scoobies, cope? B/A.

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Prologue

Once you start something, it's very hard to stop.

This is not, of course, what he was thinking at the time. In that moment, every part of his body screamed at him to drink, that was his purpose then and there. Later though, alone with nothing but guilt for company, that small part of his mind that tried to justify his actions would tell him, quietly, that he couldn't of stopped himself. And even if he did, it was all meant to happen – he'd been told so, and there was no point in denying it.

-

Angel rolled off Buffy, who's breath had become shallow and strained. Life buzzed through his veins, and it took hima moment torealise what he had just done. Buffy had sacrificed her blood to save him. She was dying. Her eyes were still open, streaming with tears. The demon in him knew what to do, yearned for it, it was natural t feel his face morph again, sink his teeth into his wrist, let his cursed blood fall into Buffy's gasping mouth.

The final before-death strength filled her, and she grabbed his arm and held it close, sucking greedily from the wound. For a moment, their eyes met. There was no anger in her clear green eyes, but the pain in them was enough to make his own chocolate-brown ones prick with tears of shame.

"I'm sorry." Then she fell to the floor again, lifeless and cold. He collapsed beside her, his hands over his eyes, praying that he wouldn't have to kill her again.

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Just a taster to see what the reception's like. If you liked it, please say so and then I'll write more. Constructive criticism is appreciated, so if you think there's something I can improve on just say so, don't tell me it sucks but not say what would make it better. Thankyou!


	2. Dreamer

Thanks a bunch to Beckii, uskohakuchan (I typed that from memory – go me) and RabidReject! I love you people. In answer to your questions, Vampire!Buffy is going to be just like she was in Nightmares – still Buffy, but a little unstable. She has all the weaknesses –sunlight, crosses, stakes – of a normal vampire, but she's stronger than Slayer!Buffy.

Of course I own nothing, blah blah blah.

This chapter is also going to be longer than the last one. Enjoy!

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Giles leant over Buffy's corpse, examining her like an interesting book. He knew that it would be obvious to everyone watching that his indifference was a façade, but he kept it up nonetheless. He needed it to stop himself from breaking down completely. He straightened up and began to clean his glasses. Willow gazed after him for a moment as he walked away from Buffy's body without a word, but all except Angel kept their eyes on Buffy.

Angel sat away from the others, seeming to exude shame. He stared at the floor, silent, trying desperately not to think. The time seemed to pass more slowly than it ever had before in his unlife. When Buffy woke, they would know.

They would know whether to let her live, or let her die.

-

Buffy stirred in the velvet armchair. Someone was behind her, brushing her hair.

"Hold still, sister dearest. I can't make you pretty if you squirm." The voice was familiar, and despite the fear she felt it should incite, she was strangely comforted. She stared ahead, but the wall before her was blank. Marks suggested that a mirror had been there once, but now it was just fading wallpaper. The brush continued to pull rhythmically through her hair.

Soft, distant voices were calling her. She pulled forwards and the brushing stopped.

"I have to go." She twisted on the chair and looked into Drusilla's smiling face.

"No, sister, some things are our choices. And they can't see the things we see. All the pretty shapes the stars make in the sky. Can you hear them singing?" Buffy cocked her head to the side, and heard a strange, beautiful, twinkling music. She looked up, and saw that the room they were in had no ceiling. She stood, and studied her dress. She wondered for a moment whether it had been a doll's before she had worn it. That would have been ridiculous – she wasn't that small. Smoothing the pink satin, raising a hand to the ringlets that bounced around her head, she stood from the armchair.

Drusilla was still standing behind the chair, brush in hand.

"Poor little things, they never change. Always the same, over and over." Buffy frowned.

"I don't understand." Drusilla turned and began to twirl.

"Dance with me, little Buffy." Buffy looked down at the ground. There were worms crawling around her patent leather shoes.

"I have to go back to my friends. I have to…save the world." Drusilla paused, her dark hair swinging around her white face.

"Again? A habit, we must get rid of it." She clapped. "They won't change, you won't change, all the nasty little things you fight…" She stepped forwards, her hands outstretched. "They won't change." Buffy looked down, and the worms had gone. She was in Faith's apartment.

Faith stood with her back to the window. Everything was bright. The knife was still in Buffy's hand, covered in Faith's blood.

"Human weakness, B." Buffy looked up.

"Is that what Drusilla meant?" Faith laughed.

"That doesn't matter any more… all that matters is you." She turned to face Buffy. "Do the right thing B, it's what you're best at." Buffy smiled.

"Still?" Faith walked towards her.

"Always. Are you ready?" Faith raised her hand to stroke Buffy's cheek, and there was a brilliant, blinding light.

-

Buffy made a small groaning noise, and twisted on the library table, her hands clenching and unclenching. Her eyes snapped open. She gasped.

"I… can't breathe!" Despite himself, Angel rushed towards her, taking her hand in his and kissing her forehead.

"Buffy! Oh God, I'm so sorry." She squeezed his hand and moved closer to him.

"Did you… turn me?" Her tone was inquisitive, not accusing, and she looked him straight in the eyes as she had just before she died. He couldn't quite get the words out, but he knew his eyes told her the answer. She didn't pull her hand away from his, however, or look betrayed. She leaned in, slowly, and kissed him.

Their kiss lasted less than a minute, but seemed to last an eternity. In that time, Angel realised that he couldn't possibly leave her now, when she needed him most. She turned half away from him for a moment, and looked at the others.

"Guys, I know this is really, really hard for you. I'm all… changed, and the Mayor's about to ascend. We need to stay together, especially now." Giles sighed and stood up.

"We have no idea how to defeat the Mayor; all we know is that the last time a creature like this appeared in this dimension…" He trailed off, and Xander cut in.

"It took a volcano to take it out." There was a moment of silence, and then Buffy stood up shakily.

"I have a plan."

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I think I might have gone a little OTT on the dream… but tell me what you think. I'm also slightly worried about the sappiness… unless people are into that (if so… review and tell me!). I will try to update again ASAP.

Review!!!!!!!!!!!! I will love you forever!!!!!!


	3. Tears

I've been updating pretty fast, and will probably continue to do so until about Wednesday (GCSEs starting – yikes). The chapters are getting longer (or maybe it's just the before and after notes are LOL), which means that they take a leeetle bit longer to write.

Thankyou so much to spk, and again to uskohakuchan and Rabid Reject. I loooooove youuuuuu. Between last chapter and this chapter, everything was exactly like the fight in Graduation Day part 2. I would write it, but I really can't be bothered. I'd have an urge to copy the script exactly. Angel didn't leave, although you'd probably figure that out from reading.

I own nothing, nothing at all. It makes me upset.

My only desire is for reviews (seriously… it's like crack).

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Flames shooting from the remains of the school cut into the night sky. The burning timbers continued to crackle as the Scoobies stood watching, still dressed in their graduating attire.

"Wow," said Oz, as always turning everything everyone else was thinking into the shortest sentence possible.

"Is he dead?" Willow asked, snuggling closer to Oz. Buffy smiled.

"Yeah, I think so. I can sorta… feel it. We won." She looked sideways at Xander, who returned her smile.

"Always do." His tone was solemn, and he looked to the ground. Buffy wondered if he was still wondering about her, how she'd been changed, but he spoke again, in a lighter tone. "So what now? Party time?" The Scoobies looked at each other. There was a moment of silent agreement, then they slowly walked away, arm in arm, laughing and talking together.

-

At the end of the evening, Buffy and Angel walked back to Angel's mansion together, hand in hand. Buffy could hear the faint tinkling noise the stars were making – after all, a vampire can move almost silently, and there was no sound of breathing to be heard. She looked up, noticing how bright they now seemed to her, how entrancing.

"Buffy?" angel spoke quietly to her, so quietly that she doubted whether a human could have heard him then. She nestled closer to him, so that his arm was wrapped around her waist, his chin resting on the top of her golden head.

"I thought you were going to leave," she whispered to him. "I was so afraid. Angel, I…" she trailed off, then looked him in the eyes. "I don't think I can manage without you. I love you, I -" He held a finger against her lips.

"I'll always be here. I won't make you go through this alone. Not when it's… my fault."

"No, Angel, this is _not_ your fault. I gave myself to you, I told you to drink. I think maybe a part of me wanted you to do what you did. I drank from you, didn't I?" Tears were spilling down her cheeks, down her front and onto the ground. Her pulled her close, letting her cry into his shirt. Angel felt awful, it was his fault that she was so upset, but at the same time a part of him felt happy. They could be together forever.

-

After an age of standing there, crying into each other, they broke apart.

"How are you going to tell your mother about this?" Buffy clapped a hand to her forehead. After everything that had happened, she hadn't even thought about telling her mother.

"Oh God… Mom… I completely forgot. What am I gonna say? Oh my God, oh my God." Angel seized her hand.

"It's going to take her a while to accept. She's never going to trust me now." Buffy stroked his cheek with the hand that wasn't gripping his for support.

"I trust you. She's gonna have to learn to trust you too." Angel smiled, before leaning down for a long, breathless kiss.

-

Joyce Summers parked her car in the driveway of 1630 Revello Drive. Lugging her heavy suitcase to the door, she had a strange feeling. Something, she wasn't sure quite what, was wrong. The porch light switched on as she approached, and it's glare revealed Buffy sitting there, as though she had been waiting for quite a while.

"Are you all right Buffy? You don't look well." Her skin was paler than usual, as though it had been drained of colour.

"Mom… there's something I have to tell you. Please don't overreact." Joyce frowned, and sat next to her on the porch.

"What is it sweetie, you know you can tell me anything. Anything at all."

Buffy looked away, and stammered a few times, as though she couldn't quite get the words out. She took a deep, unneeded breath and then looked her mother straight in the eyes.

"Mom, I'm a vampire." Joyce started.

"What? No, you're… the Slayer."

"I _was_ the Slayer. Angel turned me." Joyce stood up.

"I knew it! He's evil again, isn't he?" Buffy stood up too.

"No! He had no choice, he would have died if he hadn't taken my blood. I'm still me, mom. I'm different to other vampires. I think I've kept my soul."

"Really? And what does a soul do?" Joyce sounded angry. "Oh God, Buffy… you were my little girl…"

"I'm still your daughter, Mom!"

"No, no you're not. You can't be. You're dead!" Tears had begun to pour down Joyce's face, and for the second time that night, Buffy also burst into tears. "I wanted to see you grow up, get married, have children. Now none of those things are going to happen."

"I'm sorry, Mom, it's not my fault and it's not Angel's either." Joyce shook her head and opened the door. Buffy looked at her feet.

"You need to invite me in." Joyce looked her dead daughter in the eyes.

"No, Buffy. I need some time to think. Please, just for tonight… go somewhere else." She closed the door, unable to look at her daughter again, choking on her tears. Buffy looked resolutely at the door her own mother had closed on her, then turned around and walked away into the night.

---

Too. Much. Crying. Oh well, I promise it's going to lighten up. Buffy's still going to go to college (if you're wondering how, i know and it fits with canon and everything taps nose… kind of…) and Cordy's still going to pursue her acting career, but I'm not giving anything else away.

Please review, I do a dance every time I get one. I am not joking, it's quite pathetic really. Even one word is appreciated… or a little smiley face. I do like those. I'll stop begging now, it's probably not very attractive.


	4. A Departure, An Arrival

Sorry I didn't put this up yesterday, I rewrote pretty much the whole chapter, so it took me a little longer.

Thankyou sososo much to uskohakuchan and RabidReject – you are my favourites people ever. Cordy will be gone for a while, but she'll be back I promise (I love her too much). I love Doyle too so… well; I don't want to give too much away. Read on and find out! Thankyou also to Lilith Sora, I really appreciate the review and I'll try and make things a little less confusing.

Just in case Spuffy-Killed-Bangel is reading this (I doubt it), thanks for the review, although it was kinda pointless. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

I'll get on with the chapter now.

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Buffy walked into Angel's bedroom, dragging her feet slightly across the floor. This was a combination of sadness and her trying to see if she could get her feet to make some noise on the stone floor. Her whole body felt lighter now.

She was grateful that she already had some clothes left at Angel's. He had told her that he had forgotten to give them back to her, but deep down she knew that he planned to keep something of hers, to remind him of her after he had gone. She remembered again that he wasn't leaving, and this brightened her mood somewhat, knowing that she was going to spend the rest of her unlife with him.

Buffy sighed and threw herself back on Angel's bed. This was the second time her mother had thrown her out of the house. This time, at least, she was not alone. Angel enfolded her in his arms and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll always be here for you." She smiled and rested her head against his chest.

"Forever and ever." They stayed there, wrapped together, eventually both falling asleep. They did not move, and did not breathe. Lying on the bed, they looked almost like corpses.

-

Cordy stepped up to the taxi, looking back at her friends for one last time as they stood on the sidewalk. She knew she was going to miss them, but there was absolutely no way she was going to admit that out loud, especially not to Xander. She opened the door with a flourish, and swung herself neatly inside.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you all. I might send you premiere tickets when I'm famous and in a movie." Willow looked slightly taken aback.

"Wow Cordy, that'd be nice." She sounded entirely sincere, but Cordelia was unfazed.

"Only so I can gloat. Have a great time in Monsterville, and tell Vampboy and girl I said good-riddance!" With that, she rolled the window up, and the taxi sped off into the sun. The scoobies stared after her for a while, until the taxi turned a corner.

"I'm sure her brilliant people skills will take her far," commented Giles, after a while of stunned silence. Xander nodded wistfully, smiling at where the taxi had disappeared.

"You know, I really am going to miss her." The others grinned, follwing his eyes into the distance.

"She'll be back."

-

That night, once the sun had set and the scoobies had met up again to bet on how long Cordy would last in L.A., Sunnydale was quiet once more, except for the sound of crickets and the occasional car.

At the edge of town, a sign that read 'Welcome to Sunnydale' had just been re-nailed down. Suddenly, out of the night, a black car with blacked-out windows raced up, knocking the sign over for the third time.

The driver's door was flung open and a man stepped out. He had slicked-back platinum hair, and he turned to reveal bright blue eyes and well-defined cheekbones. He stood dramatically for a moment, lighting a cigarette.

There was a crash and squeal from the passenger side of the car, and Spike winced.

"Blondie Bear! My heel's stuck!"

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Sorry, this one was shorter than the last one, but it seemed like a good place to leave it. Now things are really going to brighten up, I promise. Please please please review. I will sing if you do.


	5. Sunshine

I've started my GCSEs! How frickin' scary is that? Anyway, that's why the updates are going to be a bit slower (I probably should be revising right now instead of writing this but whatever) but I promise there'll be a new chapter every 1-3 days.

Thankyou soso much to uskohakuchan (who has reviewed every chapter! Love you!!!) and Lilith Sora!!! They are amazing and fabulous people, and you should all follow their example and REVIEW!!!! I think I'm a bit hyper… so I'll get on with the chapter now.

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Lying on his back on a sarcophagus, in a mausoleum in one of Sunnydale's many graveyards, Spike took a long drag on his cigarette. He was back in Sunnydale, and he had a mission: find the Gem of Amara and kill the Slayer. He knew what he had to do and nothing, nothing at all was going to get in his way. Well, nothing except…

"Bloody hell, Harm! I told you, not the hair!"

-

The scoobies sat in The Bronze, in the little corner that they had managed, somehow, to make their own. Angel was at the bar, and Buffy could feel his distance from her. She couldn't bear it. He had told her that this was temporary, that her dependancy on him would gradually fade, but he didn't know how soon.

Music pumped through the club, from the stage where tonight's band were playing, up through the tables. Buffy could feel it in her chest, as though it was replacing her heartbeat. It made her feel… alive. She could sense the energy of the people dancing: raw, hot, human energy that pulsed thorugh The Bronze. She started to feel a little nauseous.

"I'm just going out for some fresh air." Without waiting for anyone to follow her, she slipped through the crowd (something that she had found a challenge before her turning but was now strangely easy) and stepped outside.

However, outside The Bronze there was still no escape. Couples leant against fences and walls. Buffy could hear their heatrbeats racing, the blood rushing through their bodies. She could almost taste it, their warm blood, she wanted it so much. A couple brushed past her and she growled, deep in her throat. They looked back at her and she turned, walking away quickly, her hand over her mouth.

She stumbled into an alley, raising her hand to her forehead where she could feel the ridges forming. She slumped back against the wall, sliding down until she could hide her head behind her knees, sobbing through her long, pointed teeth. She couldn't last like this, she wanted so desperately to tear out the throat of everyone she saw.

-

Angel returned to the table, holding a glass in one hand.

"Where's Buffy?" His tone was genuinely worried, and Willow looked at him strangely.

"She just went outside for a bit – she needed some fresh air." Without a word to any of the some, he thumped the glass on the table and slipped through the crowd just as easily, if not more, as Buffy had. Xander stared after him, munching a sandwich.

"What's up with him?"

-

Angel tracked Buffy quickly, finding her still sitting in the alley, her hands over her face.

"Buffy… it's ok, everything's ok." She lowered her hands slightly, her yellow eyes filled with tears.

"I'm a monster." He hugged her close.

"No you're not. You're… Buffy." When he drew back from her, her face had returned to normal.

"I wanted to… I wanted to kill everyone." He stood up, holding out his hand for her to take. She took it, and he saw how shaky she was.

"You need to feed." He didn't mean for it to come out as coldly as it did, but she flinched. He softened his voice again.

"You're weak, and it'll help. You'll feel better, I promise." She nodded, and pulled herself up unsteadily. He supported her as she limped out of the alley, and slowly back to his.

-

The sunlight slanted through a gap in the curtain, onto the stone floor of Angel's mansion. Buffy stood right at its edge, wanting to reach out into it. She raised a hand, then dropped it again, afraid. She remembered when she was six, when she had taken a hot tray out of the oven without oven gloves on, the initial sting, the days of throbbing pain in her hand that had followed. Gritting her teeth, she raised her hand, so that just the very tips of her fingers were touched by the sun's rays. She winced as they began to prickle and smoke, and pulled her hand back in. the sun was something she was going to have to learn to live without.

-

Spike strolled through the crypt, his hand outstretched, admiring the Gem of Amara on his finger.

"Wow, it's so pretty," said Harmony, coming up behind him.

"Yeah," he said vaguely. "This is just what I need to kill the Slayer. When and where she least expects it… in the sun." He walked out of the crypt, and into the bright sunshine outside. The sun was something he was going to be able to live with.

-

Ta-da! It's the longest chapter so far, so I hope that makes it a little bit more worth the wait. Please please please review, and I will love you forever (not an exaggeration – I think I have a problem).


	6. Smiling At Last

Thanks an enormous bunch to my reviewing regulars, uskohakuchan, Lilith Sora, and RabidReject (you're back! I missed you!). Also to Mrs Brood, to whom I say "maybe" and also "thankyouthankyouthankyou".

"By the way, I've screwed with canon a bit. The Gem of Amara only protects against the sun, not crosses and stakes, for the purposes of this fic. I didn't want it to make the wearer totally invincible, 'cause that gets boring fast. I hope no one gets angry with me for my plot jiggles :S.

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Spike wandered up Crawford Street, hands in his pockets, whistling an old song. Angel's mansion was just around the corner. _Maybe I'll give the poof a visit, see the look on his face._ He smiled and turned the corner, strolling up to the enormous old house with not the slightest bit of fear.

He pulled the curtain open so that a huge chunk of sunlight hit the floor. Buffy looked up with a start from where she had been sitting, nursing her burnt fingers.

"Slayer," said Spike with a smirk. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you this soon. I was going to have a speech." She was looking at him in shock.

"You're… the sun… you're not burning!" His smirk widened to a grin and he raised his hand.

"Gem of Amara, Slayer. I can go wherever I want, whenever I want." He spread his arms. "Come fight me Slayer." She was scowling at him, an expression he supposed she'd learnt from Angel.

"I can't."

"Why not? I'm right here, the Big Bad. Come get me."

"I said 'I can't'" He lowered his arms and looked closely at her. She looked pale, deathly pale. she wasn't breathing.

"So... he got you."

-

That evening, Harmony walked into April Fool, running her perfectly manicured hands over the rails of oh-so-cool clothes. A sales assistant glowered at her.

"We're about to close. Why don't you come back tomorrow?" Harmony laughed.

"Oh, no, I can't. I'm… busy tomorrow." She held up two tops. "I know they'd both look cute on me, but which one'd look _better_?" The assistant reached in her bag.

"You have to leave now, we're closing." Harmony sauntered up to her.

"Make me!" She morphed into game face. "Ha! What are you gonna do about-" the sales assistant pulled a cross out of her bag. "Oh. That."

"I know what you are. Get the hell out of this shop!" Harmony stamped her foot.

"You are being so unfair! I was totally gonna eat you!" With that, she turned and strutted out of the shop, taking both tops and knocking down as many rails as she could reach. The sales assistant leant against the counter.

She hoped all the vampires she met would be that stupid.

-

Angel sighed as he entered the mansion. He fet bad for leaving Buffy on her own all day, especially while her friends were out having fun. Someone had broken into an old crypt, rumoured to contain the Gem of Amara. If a vampire had it, it meant they could walk unharmed in the sun. he couldn't let that happen, especially now that Buffy wouldn't be able to fight it.

As he neared the main room, he thought he could hear laughing.

"… with Harmony! How tolerant are you?"

"Keep laughing, Slayer. Just look who you're stuck with for eternity."

"Hey, that's different. We're in love."

"Oh, really? Even with the-" Angel chose that moment to enter the room, scowling. _He still does it better than Buffy_, thought Spike to himself.

"Spike." Spike grinned at him from the couch, where he was sitting with Buffy, who was looking a little awkward. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm on business." Angel's frown deepened.

"Really? Wouldn't have anything to do with the Gem of Amara now, would it?" Buffy stood up.

"Spike was just leaving." Spike turned to glare at her. "Now, please," she hissed. He turned to go, with a final smirk at Angel. "Oh, Spike. One more thing."

"Yep?" She jumped forward with astonishing speed, and grabbed the ring off his finger.

"Thanks! I'd been waiting for hours to do that!" She ran with incredible speed out of the mansion, laughing. He stared after her, astonished. Angel smirked at him.

"I believe you were about to leave." Spike stammered a bit, still staring after where Buffy had vanished. Then he turned around and stumbled out of the mansion.

Angel watched him leave, then turned and followed Buffy's path. She was standing just a few metres from the mansion, smiling more than he'd seen for a while. The ring was already on her hand, shining in the moonlight.

"Do you know what this means?" she asked excitedly. He blinked.

"You can walk in the sun." She ran forwards and hugged him.

"I can still go to college! First thing tomorrow, I'm paying my mom a daytime visit. Everyone's gonna be so surprised!" She broke away from him, still beaming, and ran back into the mansion. He gazed after her, smiling slightly. Then shook his head and grinned as he followed her, yet again, inside. He had nothing to worry about – she hadn't changed a bit.

---

Huge chunk of sunlight... writing that made me laugh. It sounds edible.

Anyway, Spike'll be back (probably – I love him a lot, and I also love Harmony… and reviews, but you already knew that) but I promise no spuffy. Hope you enjoyed, and if you did… REVIEW!


	7. Reunion

4 reviews for last chapter, 3 of which are from new people (where are Lilith Sora and uskohakuchan?). So thankyou muchly to RabidReject (thankyou again), JessAngelus (I like that you like), redheadreader (you rock too) and rocks and glass (whose review I actually squealed a bit at). I love you all, as you know. :D

That last chapter was a bit of an in-between, so hopefully things should pick up from here.

Any similarities between the beginning of last chapter and the beginning of this chapter are totally intentional, I swear.

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The sun glinted off Buffy's bleached-blonde hair as she walked briskly down Revello Drive. She felt its warmth on her back, on her legs. She had been so worried about never getting a tan again (and then additionally worried about thinking like that when she knew that there were much bigger complications to consider). The Gem of Amara flashed on the had she was repeatedly using to pinch herself, convincing herself that this wasn't all a dream.

She reached the door of her house, now rubbing her slightly pink arm, and paused before knocking. What would she say? It had been a few days now since her mother had thrown her out, and she was worried about how shocking and unexpected her return would be. _At least it won't be anything new_, she mused, _ Buffy returns after being chucked out, just another day in the Summers house._

She gritted her teeth and knocked three times. Joyce Summers opened the door, jumped about a foot in the air, screamed loudly, and dropped the tray she was carrying.

-

There was almost total silence as Buffy sat on the couch, sipping a glass of orange juice and trying desperately to think of something to say.

"I was always going to let you back, Buffy. Please don't think I only did because of your magic ring." Buffy burst out laughing. "What?"

"I'm sorry… it's just 'magic ring' sounds so stupid." Joyce smiled, then started to laugh along with her daughter.

"I'm just glad you can still go to college, and get a job." She paused, looking a little worried. "Can you still get a job if you're…" she trailed off, looking a bit awkward. Buffy nodded.

"I don't see why not. I mean… as long as it doesn't involve crosses, or holy water…"

"Damn, I was hoping you'd be a nun."

"Very funny, mom."

-

Across town, in Giles' apartment, Willow and xander were arguing about the recent turn of events. Giles had chosen not to participate in this, not just because he found arguing with Xander quite unproductive, but because their argument had not yet covered Buffy's current state of mind. Although it had improved since the (extremely fortunate) discovery of the Gem of Amara, he could not push the incident at the Bronze out of his mind. Neither Buffy nor Angel had told him the full story of what had happened, but he could guess enough to know that Buffy was teetering on the edge. He did not want to see his Slayer spiral out of control.

In the other room, all that Xander and Willow were worrying about was Buffy stumbling into a college meeting of the Young Catholics' Society. Giles didn't want to plague them with his concerns, and busied himself with the kettle, trying to push his thoughts away.

Nevertheless, his thought continued to swirl in his head. One thing was certain, Buffy's and Angel's relationship was now one of codependancy, and if they were isolated from the rest of the group it was all the more likely that they would drag each other down, more likely that they would give into the bloodlust that ruled them both. He prayed that Buffy would spend more time with the humans in her life in the sun, rather than with her vampire mate in the shadows.

-

Angel was reading. The book in his hands was very old, a book of victorian poetry. He knew he should feel glad for Buffy, being able to walk in the sun, go to college, do almost all the things she could have done as a human. However, he could not help but feel a shade of resentment, and a sense of loneliness returning. He thought he would have someone to share the days with, but now he realised that they would be spent alone, again. He sighed, and placed the book on the table in front of him.

"Hey." It was Buffy. He smiled, relieved to see her.

"I thought you were going to spend the day with your mom." She laughed, and flopped down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You know I can't stand being away from you." He tried not to smile too much. "besides, you and me forever. We need to get used to spending all our time with each other." She snuggled closer to him and shut her eyes. He held her closer still, smiling.

What was there to worry about? They had all the time in the world.

---

Hope you enjoyed that. Shorter than the last, but I think it's going a bit more smoothly now (not for the characters, haha, for the plot) but maybe I'm wrong.

Any questions, comments? Three guesses what I'm going to say…

Review!


	8. Only Time Will Tell

The reviews keep getting better and better! They make me weep with joy. I love you guys… so much. Anyway, thanks a heap to rocks and glass (long reviews are the bestest – I looooove you), uskohakuchan (I hate it when that happens – you're still my favourite person-with-a-japanese-penname), RabidReject (I squealed like a mental pig – but in a good, happy way), fiversfan3588 (thankyou! Feel my radiating love!) and last but certainly not least, Darling-Angel-Puff (thankyou, yet another amazing person, of whom there aren't enough in the world).

That's the most reviews I've ever had for one chapter – keep 'em coming you fabulous reader-people you!

Lalala next chapter… have fun with it.

---

It had been an uneventful few weeks since the Gem of Amara had been found. Buffy had her time well-balanced – her days were spent either in Angels's mansion or hanging with her friends, her evenings were spent patrolling with Angel, osccasionally backed up by her friends, and she slept either at hers or Angel's. She thought she had it pretty well planned-out.

She was walking in-between places now, on the way to her house from a day spent shopping with Willow. The sun shone, the birds sang, everything was just as a perfect Californian afternoon should be.

"So no Angel tonight?" Buffy smiled at Willow's question.

"No, mom likes to keep me home as much as possible." Willow grinned, and sighed happily.

"Especially with college soon 'n' all… it's gonna be fun."

"You're really looking forward to it aren't you?" Willow looked sidelong at her best friend.

"Aren't you too, sunshine girl?" Buffy laughed, looking down again at the Gem of Amara.

"A lot more than I was before school ended." Willow nodded understandingly. "I guess it takes not being able to have something to appreciate how much you want it." The two girls smiled in silence for a moment, enjoying the balminess of the evening.

When they finally arrived at Buffy's house it was just after sunset, a few pinkish streaks still visible on the horizon. They stopped for a while to continue a meaningless conversation. Willow leant against the wall, accidentally placing her hand in a sparkling mass of broken glass.

"Ouch!" She leapt up, waving her injured hand. Blood began to drip from the multiple cuts and, before she realised what she was doing, Buffy had seized Willow's hand and had it clamped in her mouth. "Um…Buffy?" Willow stared in horror as Buffy's face morphed, and when she tried to pull her hand away she realised that Buffy had bitten into it, tearing into Willow's flesh with her fangs. She screamed, trying to push Buffy away with her other hand.

Suddenly remembering herself, Buffy jerked up, and her face switched back to human. Willow's blood was all around her mouth, a little running down her chin. Without a word, or even a glance in Willow's direction, she turned and sped away at her patent unnatural speed. Willow watched, astonished, holding her wounded hand against her chest.

-

Angel was just returning home for a Buffyless night when he stopped, startled. He could sense that buffy wa sdistressed, but before he could do anything about it, she appeared out of nowhere, racing past him with her hands over her face.

"Buffy!" She ran inside and he followed suit. The smell of human blood lingered after her. Willow's blood. _Oh God_…

Angel rushed to the bathroom to see Buffy leaning over the toilet, gagging. He pulled her back by the hips, and she looked up at him, blood trickling down her chin and tears running down her pale cheeks.

"I wanted to… I w-wanted to…" he smoothed her hair back from her face in time for her to lean over the bowl again, vomiting blood. It smelt human. She was stammering incoherent syllables. "K-k-i.. l-l… w-wannnt-ed-d t-t-to ki-ill-l…" Her head flopped back into the toilet bowl, and he leant forward with her, pulling her hair out of the way. He wasn't entirely sure why, the ends were already soaked with blood. He wasn't sure if it would be right to ask her what had happened, but he felt he had to know.

"Buffy." She was sobbing now, sobbing and retching. "Buffy, please tell me what happened." He made sure that his voice was full of control. She would listen to him, he knew that. She would do what he said. The power he held over her scared them both, and so unless it was absolutely necessary he tried to keep it below the surface. Now, though, he felt it was necessary to exert that control. He could see the fear in her eyes as she looked at him. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, and scrambled away from the toilet. Still stammering, she told him about what had happened, before collapsing into him. Angel tried to keep himself from smelling Willow's blood on her. She needed him to keep controlled. He hoped he could keep himself together, for her sake, but he wondered how long he could last. _Only time will tell_, he thought as he clasped her delicate body into his chest.

-

Giles wrapped a bandage around Willow's hand, listening intently to Willow's description of the day's events.

"… and then she just ran off, she didn't even look at me. She was so fast it was unreal." Willow paused, trying to convey exactly how it had felt, the madness. She remebered how she could feel Buffy's hunger, he desperation as she gulped down her best friend's blood. "You should've seen her Giles, it was like she'd gone crazy." He nodded, fastening the bandage.

"And you say she just ran off." He paused, thinking. "Do you have any idea where she went?" Willow shook her head.

"No idea. Maybe Angel's?" Giles stood up, removing his glasses, one hand on his forehead. "What?" He looked at her, a concerned look etched on his face. It seemed that he too was having trouble putting his worries into words. Willow felt a strong feeling of familiarity and sympathy in that moment, as though their fear united them.

"I'm becoming increasingly worried about Buffy and Angel's relationship… they could pull each other down." Willow gasped, wide-eyed, and Giles continued. "It is my personally belief that Angel's love for Buffy has thusfar prevented him from feeding from humans, but now,"he replaced his glasses, "they are united in their bloodlust. Both of them desperately want to feed from humans." Willow looked down, lifting her wounded hand.

"Do you think they will?" Giles sat down.

"I don't know. Only time will tell."

---

Ooh, a longer one. Please please please review and I'll dance like a dying squirrel.

That's the dance of happiness, by the way. It's just that I'm terrible at it.

I'll shut up now.

Review….?


	9. Intervention

I LOVE ALL YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! RECORD NUMBER OF REVIEWS AGAIN!!!

To uskohakuchan, awww feel the love, I'm glad you think I mix the fluff and angst well, I was worried it made me seem like I had a split personality. To rocks and glass, your reviews are amazing and long, as though you are reading thoroughly – bravo! And I love chipped!Spike, he is the epitomy of hilarity. To fiversfan3588, don't be worried (about my dancing or the story) and thankyou very mucherly. To JessAngelus, you're back! And yes, exactly like the Pylean dance of joy, but crapper. To BlackbAngel, thankyouuuu and also probably, that would be nice but I don't know where I can fit it in…I'll try though. And lastest but certainly not leastest, RabidReject, who I think is tied with uskohakuchan for reviewing the most chapters, but I'll have to check. Thankyou so much to all of you, you are amazing and fabulous.

Ahem, that was a long author's note. On with the chapter…

---

Buffy lay sleeping, curled in the foetal position on Angel's bed. He'd been awak for quite a while now, sitting by the bed, watching her sleep. Her face was peaceful, and he wondered if she was having the blood-dreams that he had had, years ago when he fed from a corpse in a diner.

Her lack of breathing disturbed him slightly. He remembered watching her sleep before, when he had no soul, still thinking of how beautiful she looked and how much he wanted her. Forever. He shook off the thoughts of those times as the shame and remorse flooded back. If she was having those dreams, it was his fault. The sun was up now, and he thought perhaps he should wake her. Her eyes opened blearily just as he touched a finger to her cheek. She smiled and stretched like a cat. He smiled back, sadly, knowing that it would be only seconds before she remembered the events of the previous night.

Sure enough, a few seconds later she snapped up, touching the edge of her lips as though she thought there was still blood there.

"Oh God, I have to…" she scrambled out of the bed, pulling on a pair of jeans that he had draped over a chair for her. She looked back at him, trying to shuffle into her shoes without looking down. "I'll be back later. I don't know what they're gonna…" she looked scared, and he felt a sudden urge to go to her, pull her in close to him and keep her safe from her fears. But she was already gone, slipping out of the door and off into the sun.

-

Xander took another sip of coffee, not taking his eyes off the dressing around Willow's hand. Oz was sitting next to her, stroking her hair as she gripped a mug in her undamaged hand. Giles sat in silence across from them, looking away as though deep in thought.

A sudden knock at the door broke all four out of their stupor. Xander glanced towards the door.

"That'll be Buffy." Giles looked worried for a moment, then stood and walked towards the door. He paused before pulling it open to reveal Buffy standing in the threshold, looking both upset and terrified, her blonde hair unbrushed.

"Come on in Buffy," said Willow, attempting a smile, which Buffy did not even try to return, but instead walked inside slowly. Looking at her, they could see how fluid her movements had become. Willow shivered involuntarily, causing Buffy to snap back slightly.

"How's your hand?" Buffy's voice sounded over-casual, too light and bright, like someon in an advertisment for washing detergent, so false that Willow could see her cringe after she'd spoken.

"It's fine! Totally healing." Willow held up her bandaged hand for Buffy to see, trying again, slightly more successfully, to smile. Buffy stared at the hand for a moment, then broke her gaze away and looked down at the floor.

"I'm so sorry… I didn't mean—" Giles broke in, his tone reasonable, like a teacher's.

"We know you didn't, Buffy. This was bound to happen. Of course,"he stood up and walked over to her, touching her shoulder gently, "it does raise a few concerns about your current… er… shall we say 'state'?" Buffy looked surprised.

"I'm fine… it was just once, and I'll be way better prepared next time. No more slip-up-Buffy, I promise." Giles smiled sadly.

"Buffy, I don't know how I can put this, but—"

"You and Angel are spending too much time together." Xander had said nothing before now, and his interruption was completely unexpected. Buffy stared at him, completely incredulously.

"What? I'm spending loads of time with you guys, and my mom. It's all balanced out." Giles turned back to her once more, a sympathetic look on his face which matched the tone of his voice when he started to speak.

"What we mean is that you and Angel are going through a difficult time right now. We wouldn't want you two comforting each other to lead to anything…" he removed his glasses, not wanting to finish.

"It's not like that! Nothing's going to happen! Yeah, we are going through some stuff, but we're helping each other through it. Things are different now." Buffy sighed, and turned slightly away from the others, then looked back, with slightly more strength in her voice. "I need him, I really do. Now more than ever." Willow stood up, and moved cautiously towards her. When she spoke she sounded timid, her voice shaking a little.

"We know, Buffy, and we understand, I promise. It's just… you and Angel both have certain… um… urges – and I don't mean romantic ones, I mean, like, blood ones – so if you two are alone together all the time you might…" she trailed off, looking at the expression of Buffy's face.

"You think we're going to kill people? Hello, we both have _souls_, it's not going to happen!" Xander leant forwards, trying not to look angry.

"Souls, shmouls! Plenty of humans, with souls and no bitey urges, kill people!" Buffy shook her head, frustrated and stormed out of Giles' apartment, slamming the door forcibly behind her,causing ornaments to shake. Giles and Willow both sat down again, exchanging defeated glances. Oz looked around at the others.

"That was awkward."

---

Did you enjoy that? If so, review like a mad(wo)man!


	10. First Day

I'm so sorry for the long wait – I rewrote this chapter a few times before it remotely resembled something I'd show to other people. I have exam stress… blurgh… so please don't hold your breath for more than three updates per fortnight. I'll try to do more, but I can't promise anything.

Anyway, thankyou, as always, to uskohakuchan, and again to BlackbAngel and rocks and glass. You are my leetle looovlies. And thankyou to newperson DawnSummers-BellaCullen, to whom I say 'it's like a drug' and thankyou, of course.

And I have to dedicate a whole paragraph of thanks to redrider6612. My God, you are fantabulous. Every single chapter reviewed in one go. You also have no idea how grateful I am about the suggestions (especially the one about the dialogue problems – I've noticed that too, it's terribly confusing and I'll try to improve), and you'll be surprised to know that the hand-in-glass thing was actually based on something that happened to me… although I was very drunk at the time. Meh, I'm a lazy writer. Anyway, you are bloody fabulous and you deserve an enormous virtual clap. Clapclapclapclapclap. Of course, I still love the rest of you to bits, never forget that.

About the chapter, I basically twisted 'The Freshman' to make it easier for me. And fluffier. And stuff. Bleh.

LONGEST AUTHOR'S NOTE EVER. Sorry.

---

Following her friends' intervention, Buffy became far more withdrawn. The Scoobies, realising that this was exactly what they were afraid would happen to her, looked on helplessly.

Angel, however, was grateful for the extra time he spent with her. A part of him knew that this was wrong, but he told himself that he could teach her to be controlled, that he knew all about that kind of discipline. He was lying to himself, he knew, but as he lay in bed with Buffy in his arms, it was very difficult to tell himself the truth.

Buffy was about to start college, and he knew that this meant change. As much as he tried to be happy for her, he felt the emptiness in anticipation. His bonds with her had been strengthened so much, but he wondered if perhaps this made them both weaker.

-

It was the first day of college, and Buffy was terribly afraid. She'd have to see Willow again, and she knew it was going to be much bigger than highschool.

It was certainly big. She noticed this from quite a distance away, a combination of her improved eyesight and the genuine size of the building. It was crowded too, people outside talking, laughing, yelling about world issues. It was chaotic and loud, and it made her feel small. She liked that in a way, she felt unnoticeable.

"Buffy!" Willow was running up behind her, waving her almost-healed hand. She'd had a haircut since Buffy had last seen her, and her red hair was now much shorter, close around her head. Buffy waved back, squinting against the sun. Willow ran towards her, grinning.

"This place is amazing! Look how _driven_ all these protests are – ooh! Save the rainforest!" She grabbed a pamphlet from a red-faced student and turned back to Buffy. "Wow, I can just tell I'm gonna love it here… where are you staying?" Buffy looked down. She felt awkward around Willow, especially as she was finding this new situation bewildering.

"With Angel actually," she replied eventually, "I can't really risk staying with a student who might find out about the…" she trailed off; if she had been human she might have blushed. Talking about her 'habit' was difficult, especially with Willow.

"Who might look in the refrigerator one day and say 'hey, what's all this blood doing in here'?" Willow smiled brightly, her tone very jovial and light.

"Yeah. That." Buffy knew that Willow was trying to be friendly, but she just couldn't put on a bright smile and reply properly. After a moment, she threw caution to the wind and attempted an apology. "Will, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bite you…" she gave up. I t was too hard.

"Buffy, I know all of that." Willow was smiling. "I'm sorry – and everyone else is too – that we thought you had lack of self-control of whatever. I'm not dead, no one's dead, you're ok, we're ok, what's the problem?" Willow ended with her hands above her head. In spite of herself, Buffy smiled, and then broke into laughter.

"Oh my God Willow, I've been so stupid!" She looked up at her best friend, who promptly began to laugh along with her. They hugged warmly, and then walked arm-in-arm into the building, the sun beaming down.

-

Inside, the building looked even bigger than outside. And it was so full of people!

"I didn't know there were this many people in Sunnydale," said Buffy, gripping Willow's arm a little tighter.

"Not all of them are from Sunnydale," answered Willow, her voice very matter-of-fact, "plenty of people from out of town come here – it's a pretty good college." Buffy nodded, still in awe. "Hey, let's check out the library – that out to cheer you up." Buffy grinned.

"Yeah right, without the hellmouth it just won't be the same." She smiled to herself, remembering highschool, and Willow laughed and dragged her off.

"It's here!" Willow pushed the door open, and pulled Buffy inside.

"It's big." She looked around. Computers, lots of them. More computers to books. "Noticing the computer-to-book ratio?" Willow didn't answer, she was looking around in awe.

"Wow, Buffy. Look at this! There is so much! This is great because I was telling Giles…" she continued to talk and Buffy gave up listening. She was mostly talking to herself anyway. Instead, Buffy wandered to a bookshelf on the left. On the top an occult book was lying on its side, spine towards her. She reached up, accidentally knocking several heavy books onto the head of a boy next to her.

"Sorry!" She looked down to inspect the damage. The boy she had hit was not unattractive, if with rather boyband-ish hair.

"It's ok, I just… should take my books and… um… go." He stumbled off, knocking into a skinny girl, who squealed as he stepped on her foot. Buffy watched him go, then shrugged and picked up the book. Willow was still gawping over the technology. College was going to be difficult, Buffy realised, but at least she had Angel.

---

Well… whaddaya think? Sorry again about the slow update… and, as always, review!


	11. Itty Bits of Truth

I updated way faster than I thought I was going to – but the chapter's a little short (although this ridiculously long author's note adds a lot on, so it's probably the longest).

Alors, les mercis. Firstly, Brooke, thankyou very much for reviewing. You've made a very good point and, had I been sensible and not gone mad with shipper-ness, Buffy would have been way, way more pissed off. I'm kinda going for 'the anger comes from the outside' crap with this. Hope I managed to explain myself.

Redheadreader, you're back! Thankyou very very much, and yes that is how you spell fabulous. Either that or I've been getting it wrong for a very, very long time.

Uskohakuchan, my oldest and dearest reviewer, thankee once again, you have no idea what your frequent reviewing means to me, I always know I can count on you to review (that rhymes haha). And you made me laugh with the last one, Riley IS a fish! I don't think I'll kill him though… hmmm, tempting…

Redrider6612, thankyou for the thankyou for the thankyou… or something… your reviews are especially fantabulous because I know that if I did something shitty, you'd tell me. Interesting point with the love triangle, but I find it difficult to write too much Riley without making him either so stupid it's not funny, or a complete bastard. Having said that, I might have him develop a little crush on Buffy. Or something. By the way, I didn't manage to tell you quite how much I adore your fic 'The Secret'. It's what got me properly into _Bones_, seriously, I've been watching it non-stop ever since. Er… I probably should have said that in the review. Sorry! I'll review the sequel now!

And lastly, but not leastly in the slightest, thankyou a ginormous bunch to sapph89. Not only are you a brilliant writer yourself, but you took the time to review almost all of this (yay! Mucho reviews!), and that means an enormous bunch. I squealed so much when I was reading the reviews! You read into this a lot with the whole shop assistant-as-new-slayer thing… I'm afraid I'm not that clever. So well done!

My author's notes are just getting longer and longer, and more gushing every time with my thankyous. I should stop. But I won't. They make the chapters seem longer.

---

Settling into college had been surprisingly easy for Buffy, and she was having a much better time than she thought she would. Occasionally, the amount of humans around her became dangerous, and the worry and want would flood back all over again, but Buffy was managing to maintain control. Just. The Scoobies made it no secret that they were glad she was spending more time away from Angel, and she resented this, but for now she let it slide. There was no point arguing for argument's sake when everything was still so raw between them.

Occasionally she wondered if Xander was jealous of her going to college – he seemed to be spending even less time with her since she had started – or if the change had bothered him far more than he made clear at first. Either way, she hadn't the mental energy to confront him about it and, like all her worries, she hoped time would alleviate this and he would come to terms with who she was now.

Shaking of her thoughts, Buffy wandered along the side of the canteen, looking disdainfully at the steaming heaps of food. Human food just didn't appeal to her anymore – it was like her taste buds had been weakened. She carried blood with her in a thermos that she kept close at all times – she couldn't risk someone opening it and finding what was inside. The smell of food was making her feel a little sick – her sense of smell, it seemed, had been heightened, which confused her as she thought that smell and taste were connected – so she walked off to where Willow was sitting, waiting for her.

-

Forrest's gaze followed a smallish blonde girl in a pale pink sundress as she walked towards a table at the side of the canteen, and swung herself down next to a redhead. He nudged Riley, who grumbled a little.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to grade these papers." Riley sounded a little dazed.

"Don't you think she's hot?" He pointed at the girl, who was chatting animatedly with the redhead, and unscrewing the top of a silver thermos. Riley looked up for a moment, disinterested.

"Oh, yeah, that's Buffy Summers." He went back to his papers, seeming to be marking them a little faster and more determinedly. Then he looked up at Forrest again, as though trying to find the words for something he had difficulty describing. "Don't you think she's a little… peculiar?" Forrest laughed.

"No idea. Why don't we ask someone who'll know." He scanned the room quickly. "Oi, Trina! Over here." Trina McDonald smiled coyly and sauntered over. If there was gossip, she knew it before anyone else. She knew everything that anyone knew, and many things that no one knew. If you needed to know something about a person, from what music they liked to who they'd slept with over the last year, she was the one to ask.

"What's up, Forrest? Need to know about another girl?" She laughed loudly. Forrest grinned back.

"What do you know about Buffy Summers?" he asked, nodding towards where she was seated. Trina looked over and smirked.

"Ooh, she's _weird_!"

"Told you so." Riley didn't glance up from his papers, but he was smiling. Forrest looked back at Trina.

"Go on."

"She's anorexic, I'm pretty sure about that. 'Cause look," she gestured to Buffy again, who was sipping from the thermos, "she barely ever eats anything – she just always drinks from that. It's probably some sort of diet drink. Some slimfast, protein, hunger-killing somethingarather… I don't know what it is but it ain't got calories. She's pretty skinny… and pale. Bella thinks she might be ill, but I don't think so, she's pretty fast, and pretty strong, apparently she used to be a cheerleader but she got chucked off after about three seconds – threw someone into a wall." Trina continued to yak about unimportant things – Buffy had dated Scott Hope for a while, she got the 'Class Protector' award at Prom, she had gone for Homecoming Queen. Then, just when it seemed that all information about Buffy Summers had been squeezed dry, Trina let out something big. "And _apparently_, she has some boyfriend who's about _30_ and a violent alcoholic." Forrest blinked. Trina was known for doing this – giving a heap of trivial information before dropping a bomb, so that it would seem all the more shocking.

"Really?" he asked, his eyebrows raised, "who told you that?" Trina sniffed loftily before replying.

"Some girl who was in her class at Sunnydale High. She said he was way older than her, has a drinking problem, and has been known to punch her, and people in general. She always has bruises, haven't you noticed?" She reached out and stole some food from Riley's plate. He was far too busy looking up in shock to notice. "Apparently he's really hot though – her boyfriend I mean. Is that all? I have a yoghurt to eat." Without waiting for a yes or no she walked off, leaving Forrest and Riley a little stumped.

---

You like? Review plzkthnx!!!

I'm in a weird mood…


	12. Dance Forever

Hi y'all, I'm a big liar, 'cause I've been updating waaaay more than I thought… but I guess that's a good thing. This is a very short chapter but I wanted to update before I got back to school.

Anyway, I'm gonna try and keep my thankyous short today, soooo:

Thankyou to redrider6612, redheadreader(heeeeere's Johnny' is from _The Shining_), silvernightshade, rocks and glass, flyersfan3588, michebabyblue and BlackbAngel. Wow, there's a lot of you. I love you all to bits.

And sorry to flyersfan3588, because I spelt your name wrong when I thanked you previously… 'fivers' instead of 'flyers'… hahaha, sorry.

I like fivers. But I prefer tenners. And most of all, I prefer reviews.

Witty.

So, on with the rather uneventful chapter. Almost no talking. Not like me, eh? Shut up, self.

---

Buffy agreed to go to the Bronze again with a great deal of trepidation, but she realised that situations like this would come up frequently, and she was going to have to keep her base instincts under control. She held onto Angel like a limpet as they entered the club, and her vice-like grip didn't relax for a good fifteen minutes after they had all sat down at their usual spot. Conversation was stilted at first, but soon melted into trivial things, distractions from the pulses that rushed inside Buffy's head.

Half an hour or so passed, and the band playing started a slow song. Willow grabbed Oz and they headed to the dance floor, swaying in time to the music. Buffy wondered briefly if she should ask Angel to dance with her, but before she had time to finish this thought, he had her hand in his and they were up. The steady, slow beat of the song pulsed through the floor, and she melted into Angel. They danced like a single organism, perfectly in time with each other. Her head pressed against his chest, she smiled sadly. His heart didn't beat, and now there was no pulse of her own to hear. The music replaced them both, for now, but she wondered how it would feel if they were both alone, and not speaking, and there were no distracting noises to keep the crushing silence at bay.

She pushed her thoughts away, like always, and pulled herself closer to Angel, as though trying to disappear in him.

"I love you." His voice was barely more than a whisper, and she would not have heard it if she had been human. This realisation was like a light in her head, all the things they could do now that they wouldn't have had a chance to if she was still human-Buffy. They had each other, and they had eternity.

The song changed, and the strange magic that had held Buffy and Angel in the dance broke, and they moved slightly apart, smiling at each other in comfortable silence, in tune with what the other was feeling. They said their goodbyes and left the club. Buffy felt a feeling of satisfaction as they walked into the cold night air, happy that she had not screwed up this time, and that she had Angel with her, his arm around her to protect her and show that she was his. She felt safe, and loved, and somehow warm even though her skin was icy now.

She wondered if they would ever be able to consummate their love. She sighed, at least they were together. There was no point dreaming about things that she was pretty sure were impossible.

-

Back in the Bronze, Willow returned to the table and sat down. Xander glanced towards the door, making sure that Buffy and Angel weren't coming back.

"It's ok," said Willow, rummaging in her bag for the spell book she had brought with her. "Buffy said they were going home." She dragged an enormous, leather-bound book out, and set it on the table with a bang. Xander looked at the book uneasily.

"What exactly are we doing?" He glanced at Willow, who had her resolve face firmly on, and was now handling bags of herbs. Oz was looking mildly interested as Willow flicked through the book. "I mean, not that I'm against doing this or anything, but if anything goes wrong…" he trailed off. They all knew what could happen if this spell went wrong. The opposite of what was meant to happen. What was meant to be made stronger could be destroyed completely.

"I don't think we need to worry too much," said Willow, sounding more confidant than she possibly felt. "If the spell doesn't work, nothing'll be worse than it is now. But if it does work," she paused here, looking at her bestfriend and boyfriend with bright, excited eyes, "then Angel's soul will be permanent."

---

'Consummate'. I actually said 'consummate'… hahaha.

Sorry for the shortness, but I should really be revising maths. I won't, though. Maths is horrible… it makes me want to die.

Please review, I need them. They help me get through the exams… bleh.


	13. Satisfaction

Thanks to the following: uskohakuchan, as absolutely always, redrider6612, who is going to get exactly what they want this chapter, as are flyersfan3588 and michebabyblue

About the chapter: As you may guess, I really like purple. Apparently that makes me a mysterious person. Ooooooh.

Shall I get on with it?

---

Herbs were laid out in small piles on the floor. A blue-hot flame burned just beneath a slightly smoking pot, into which Willow was throwing the herbs, working inwards from the outside heaps. She was murmuring words under her breath, and jumping slightly every time there was a crackle or spit from the pot. She felt nervous, knowing that if it didn't work she would feel like it was her fault that Buffy and Angel couldn't be happy. She worked faster now, as the pot began to give off purple sparks.

Eventually the sparking and hissing reached a crescendo, Willow's muttering increasing in volume to a shout, and there was a blinding white light. Willow flew backwards across the room, almost to the wall. When the light shrank back into the pot, she stood shakily and walked over. The herbs in the pot had vanished, leaving a purple crystal. It was still hot, and Willow burnt her fingers when she leant in to touch it, but she grinned anyway. This meant that the spell had worked.

She ran over to the phone, sucking her burnt fingers, and hurriedly dialled Buffy's number.

-

Buffy hung up, feeling a sense of excitement that she couldn't quite explain. Willow had phoned her, telling her to go straight to her dorm room. Something about Willow's tone – which had been even more giddy than usual – told her that there was something good going on. As she power-walked over, she mused about what it could be… some sort of surprise? A party? She didn't know whether to feel thrilled or anxious, if she'd had a pulse it would have been racing.

She knocked, and Willow answered almost immediately, pulling her inside with an impossibly huge smile. Remnants of herbs littered the floor, and this and the large pot in the middle of the floor suggested that Willow had been doing magic. _Oh God_, thought Buffy, _I hope it's not some kind of hyper-making spell; she's bad enough when she's been drinking coffee._

"Look," cried Willow, gesturing to a purple crystal in the middle of the slightly steaming pot. Buffy peered closer. It was pretty, but not unusual.

"What is it? If you've been doing some kind of excitability magic—" Willow cut her off with a wave, still with the same mad grin.

"This is a revealing crystal," she explained, "If you do a spell which has no obvious physical sign of working, you can add some extra ingredients to make one of these." Buffy felt a little confused by this explanation, but was relieved to see that Willow's grin had subsided a little, although her eyes showed that this was probably because her cheeks had been strained.

"I still don't understand," said Buffy, annoyance rising as she started to feel as though she wasn't being let in on something, "what spell were you doing that needed the revealy thing?" Willow waved her hands, jumping up and down as though she couldn't quite say it.

"Making Angel's soul permanent," she burst out, then stopped jumping and clapped her hands together.

Buffy screamed, jumping up just like Willow had a moment before.

"Please tell me you're not joking, please!"

"I'm not, I'm not!"

"Willow! You're… you're AMAZING!" Buffy gripped her best friend in a bone crushing hug.

"That's oklghc…" Willow managed to choke as the wind was completely knocked out of her. "I… can't breathe." Buffy pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes and laughing.

"Sorry Will, it's just… oh my God, I," she looked at Willow with comprehension dawning on her pretty face, "I have to go! I have to go now! I have to tell Angel and—" she broke off looking embarrassed, Willow grinned and opened the door for her. She rushed out, knocking into a student as she sailed down the stairs like a lightening bolt. Willow grinned after her, feeling thoroughly satisfied with herself.

-

Riley was going for a quick walk before turning in for the night, when he caught sight of Buffy Summers running towards him. He felt a little agitated, knowing he had been developing feelings for her, but she seemed to be in a hurry. He grinned at her as she approached him, wondering what on earth he should say.

"Oh hey, it's Buffy right? Where are you—"

"Can't talk, gotta go, there's somewhere I really have to be!" He watched her zip fast him, extraordinarily fast. _Too fast_. He stared after her as she disappeared around the corner, no change in her abnormal speed at all. _What the hell is she?_

-

Buffy arrived at the mansion feeling both exhausted and exhilarated. Angel was where he always was at this time, reading in his bedroom. She sneaked. up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled up at her. And she kissed him with obvious passion

"Guess what?" she said, grinning. "I have the best news ever."

---

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel a little sorry for Riley actually… everyone hates him.

Isn't it funny how both 'Biley' and 'Ruffy' sound completely ridiculous? Just a thought.

I'm honestly not trying to bash.

Honestly.


	14. Capture

Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them, and so does Riley. Riley smiles and waves.

Anyhoo, let me take some time to worship my reviewers…

(Deep breath): Mrs Brood, michebabyblue, flyersfan3588, redheadreader (really? I'll have to do more!), Breathe in Butterfly (thanks for the support – I have English language today: blurgh, although writing before it weirdly helps), uskohakuchan, rocks and glass and redrider6612. If you all knew how much I love you you'd be incredibly scared.

Now for the chapter.

---

Buffy and Angel lay entwined beneath the covers on Angel's bed. Buffy's head was resting on Angel's chest, her hand just touching his sculpted shoulder. Her California tan looked even darker against Angel's pale, albeit smooth and toned, torso. It was early morning, and Buffy knew she should get up and go to college, but she could not bring herself to get up and leave, it was such a perfect moment.

"You should go," said Angel softly, kissing the top of her head. She smiled sleepily up at him.

"Now? Do I have to?" She put on her most wide-eyed, pouty face to look up at him pleading. He grinned.

"You know how much I want you to stay, but you have psychology this morning. Now come on." He sat up, pulling her up with him. She yawned like a cat, and scrambled out of the bed, looking for the various items of clothing that had been scattered around the room the night before.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise," she said, looking back at her boyfriend as she slipped on her shoes with one hand and tried to rake her hair through with the other. He grinned after her as she slipped out the door, on shoe still only half on her foot.

-

She arrived a few minutes late, but breezed in as though she was half an hour early. Willow smiled slightly in spite of herself as Buffy sat down next to her, beaming as though she was a five-year-old who'd just been given a pony. Professor Walsh glared at her for a moment but said nothing. Buffy's expression did not change for the entire lecture, but she kept silent as though putting it all off until the end.

The time seemed to crawl by, and when it was finally over Buffy exploded with a burst of – mostly unwanted – information. Willow giggled along with her, glad that she'd been able to give her friend what she'd always wanted, but their conversation was cut off by Professor Walsh.

"Buffy, a moment?" Her expression was unreadable and Buffy sighed and turned to Willow.

"I'll see you… probably tomorrow," she said with a laugh and a wave. Willow trundled off, with one supportive backward glance before turning out of the door. Buffy turned to Professor Walsh, who gestured for her to sit down.

"Sorry I was late Professor, I—" she was cut off by a glare.

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, Buffy."

"Oh… ok." Buffy felt a little confused, not to mention irritated by the fact that she could be going back to Angel's right now, but before she had time to ask what she was being kept for, Professor Walsh had taken a large wooden cross from her desk drawer and had it in Buffy's face. Buffy hissed involuntarily, leaning back in the chair. She felt something stir inside her, a deep, mortal fear of this thing that her teacher was holding.

"Now I don't know how you can walk in the sun," said the Professor, cutting through Buffy's primal fear a little, "but I know I'd like to find out." A group of camo-clad people were suddenly in the room, as though they had appeared out of nowhere. Almost without thinking, Buffy flipped backwards of the chair and lifted it off the floor, smacking two of the army guys right in the face. She could feel that her face had switched, and adrenaline (or whatever the undead equivalent was) was buzzing through her veins. The men were no match for her, they were humans, and she was stronger than any vampire they'd ever fast. But one had a tranquilizer gun. The first did almost nothing, but two more and she'd slowed down. He hit her with a final dart in the chest, and she fell to the floor like so many, much bigger, demons had after just one. Without talking, they lifted her unconscious form and carried her out through a back exit.

-

Buffy woke while they were still carrying her, but left her eyes partially closed. They were in some kind of laboratory, with fluorescent lighting and white tiles. She was dropped in a room, one of hundreds of identicals, and the men were gone. She stood up and looked around. She was still wearing the clothes that she had hurriedly put on that morning, and (to her extreme relief) the ring of Amara was still on her finger. She looked around the cell, trying to find a weakness. She tapped the glass door, and a shock of electricity ran through her. She began to pace, worried and alone. What was this place? Who was the Professor? And why on earth was she here?

After a while she became aware of someone muttering in the cell next to her.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" She waited for a reply, twisting her hands together.

"Bloody hell…"

"SPIKE?"

---

DUM-DUM-DUM!

Does the Initiative actually use crosses? I've never seen them using them… but hey, they do now!

I apologise for the DB droolage at the beginning… oh God no, that just made me think of Derren Brown. He is a scary, scary man. Does anyone else watch that show? It's finished now over here actually, but there are repeats. I highly recommend it. Anyway, I'm rambling, so I'll shut up and let you REVIEW!

PS. Next chapter is going to be really, really fluffy. Promise. Damnit, I ruined my cliffhanger.


	15. Rescue

My muse has gone KAPOW! So I'm actually starting this the SAME DAY that last chapter was published. Am I great or what?

Anyway, now begins the reviewer appreciation. There are so many of you! And I love you all!

So, thanks a bunch to Mrs Brood, rocks and glass, redrider6612, RabidReject, uskohakuchan, redheadreader (I love that you appreciate my ramblings!), Breathe in Butterfly (my personal favourite was the zombie one), flyersfan3588, BlackbAngel and michebabyblue. Blimey, that's… ten of you! Wow! Keep it coming, guys, I'd die without you!

Anyway, thankyou to all you guys, some of the suggestions I got were really good, and I actually changed my original idea for this chapter after hearing some of your ideas, so thankyou!

Here we go…

---

"SPIKE?" Buffy leant up against the wall of the cell, hardly believing her ears. _Spike in the cell next to me? What are the chances of that? _"Is that you?"

"Er… no, it's… yes, fine. It's me. What are you doing here?" He sounded exhausted, and extremely pissed off.

"Army guys… tranquilizers…" she leaned closer to the wall, whispering, "I think my psych Professor is evil!" She could almost hear Spike rolling his eyes.

"This isn't _evil_, Slayer. They're not killing people, or sucking the world into hell." Buffy winced. He breezed on as though unaware of the deeper meaning of what he had just said. "They catch demons, they kill demons. They're doing your job, but with better facilities." He coughed loudly. "And they sterilise like mad."

"I wouldn't do _this_, locking demons up, it's freaky… is it some sort of lab? Oh God, are they going to do experiments on me? I want to go home! I want to see Angel!"

"Oh please, what are you two gonna do? Spend a romantic night _not_ having sex?"

"Actually, no. Willow found a way to remove the clause, no more 'happiness leads to soullessness'. Ha." Buffy could hear Spike kicking the wall, and she changed her tone. "We need to find a way out."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

Buffy surveyed the cell, looking for a weakness. The only possible way out would be to kick the door through, but she remembered the shock she'd felt when she'd touched the glass.

"Spike, I'm going to kick the door," she said with a slight shake in her voice. _Ok, it'll hurt, but it might work, it might._

"Don't be an idiot, door's electrified." He sounded a little defeated, and Buffy felt a surge of pity. He was family now, after all. She examined her shoes. _Stupid fashion_, she thought bitterly, _why couldn't I be wearing flippers? Or other rubbery-type shoes?_ Her panic rising, she buried her face in her hands. Suddenly there was an enormous crash, the door of the cell shattered into pieces.

Angel was standing in the entrance, holding an enormous bat, wrapped in plastic, and looking angrier than she had ever seen him.

"Did they hurt you Buffy?" He held her in his arms, looking for any scratches.

"N-no, I don't think so." She was in shock. How did he know?

"Willow said you didn't come out of class," he murmured, stroking her hair. "I found the Professor and followed her down here. She didn't see me." Buffy held him closer still, laughing slightly with relief. Then she pulled away, mild concern etched into her face.

"We have to get out of here."

"Oi!" Spike walked up to the front of his cell. "Aren't you forgetting something!" Angel sighed.

"This is the last time, Spike." He lifted his bat and swung it again, smashing the door of Spike's cell. Spike dusted the shards off himself, a slightly smug expression on his face. Angel clonked him with the bat. "What was that for?" he asked, holding his nose in pain, Angel shrugged, smirking, and turned around to run away, taking Buffy with him.

-

They met resistance about a minute after escaping the cells, and Spike was actually surprised that it had taken so long. He admired Buffy's strength for a moment. She dodged the bullets easily, and knocked out three guards with a single kick. Angel was fighting with similar fervour, taking out the guards with his fists and the bat. Joining them with enthusiasm, Spike took a swing at a guard, his fist connecting with the side of the man's head.

"OW!" He clutched at his own head, blinding pain shooting through it. Buffy looked back at him, exasperated as she clonked two guards' heads together, rendering them both instantly unconscious.

"What are you doing, Spike! Come on!" He ran with her and Angel, still clutching his pounding head. _What the hell's going on?_

They managed to break out of the lab in about five minutes, after much scrambling about looking for an exit. Spike had never been as relieved as he was when the fresh night air hit his face. He took a moment to breathe it in, unneeded but oh-so-welcome breaths. Buffy was looking around nervously, yellow eyes glowing slightly in the dark. He couldn't remember when she'd switched to game face; the change seemed to suit her.

"We should get to yours, Angel," she said through her fangs, "then tell the others what's going on." She stopped and shook her head as her face shrank back into its usual form. "What happened back there? When you punched that guard?" Spike shook his head. The pain was starting to ebb away, but it was fresh in his mind. Angel looked at him suspiciously, drawing Buffy back into his arms.

"No idea," he said truthfully. Quick to change the subject, he gestured for them to go. "Shall we go then?" Angel nodded, not seeming to want to let go of Buffy. They walked together, ahead of him, Angel's arm around Buffy's shoulder as she leant into him, walking in perfect synchronisation. _Yuck_, he thought bitterly, remembering Dru, and trying to push those memories away. Perhaps he'd go looking for Harmony later.

-

Maggie Walsh looked along the corridor. The doors of two cells have been shattered, and their contents escaped.

"Agent Finn?" Riley stepped up in front of her. "The Hostiles that escaped. Which were they?" Riley looked down.

"Hostile 17 and… and Buffy, ma'am. Someone broke them out; we didn't see who it was." He was clearly upset, as well as frustrated about the escape.

"Do you know what she was?" She looked down at Riley, who shook his head, not looking at her.

"No ma'am, I just saw her running faster than any human could. I thought I should inform you—"

"You were right to," she cut in. "I've never seen an HST so dangerous. Her reaction to the crucifix and her second face suggest vampire, and yet she could walk in the sun, and her strength is far greater than any vampire we've seen so far. I wish we could have experimented on her. We'll just have to wait and see if she comes into class tomorrow." She paused, considering the other escapee. "Hostile 17… is that the vampire which had the chip?"

-

The three vampires arrived at Angel's at just after one in the morning. A quick phone call to Giles assured everyone that Buffy was fine. Spike kept sulkily quiet for the next three minutes. Angel hung up the phone, and turned his attention immediately back to Buffy. He swept her almost completely off the ground, and into a passionate kiss. Spike made a gagging noise, and was completely ignored.

"Get a bloody room." They glared at him, not taking their hands off each other.

"Go away Spike," they said in unison. He scoffed, then turned and left. He looked annoyed, but secretly he was relieved to be alive and out of that place. Now he just wished he could work out what had gone on back there when he'd punched the guard… he shook his head. Probably some sort of defence mechanism they all had wired into their uniforms. _Yeah, that must be it_, he told himself. _But_, said a little voice at the back of his mind, _why weren't Buffy and Angel affected?_ He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts away. He'd worry about that tomorrow.

-

When Spike's footsteps echoed away, Buffy smiled up at her boyfriend.

"Finally," she said. "I've been waiting for this all day." She started unbuttoning his shirt. He grinned down at her.

"You can't really go to college tomorrow can you? It'd be awfully dangerous." He had a mischievous glint in his eye, and she caught he hint.

"No, I really can't… I'll just have to stay here with you. What on earth are we going to do all day?" She bit her lip, trying to look puzzled as she held back a smile. He lifted her up into his arms and she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I can think of a few things…"

---

Tee hee.

Hope y'all enjoyed that! Twas a long'un! I promise high jinks and hilarity for next chappie too. Until then, you can always review!

I like reviews. It's niiice.

I watched Borat again yesterday, sorry.


	16. Engagements and Interruptions

Hey y'all! Third update in three days!

Mmkay, time to thank all you guys…

alBBie: wow! I haven't heard from you since I was a rabid spuffy shipper! Those were the days… hi and thankyou!!!!!

redrider6612: he is TEH sexy, and thankyou.

michebabyblue: you've _never_ seen Borat? 'Tis a crime. Willow's with Oz, and I don't know if I'm going to bring Tara in, everything's pretty complicated already. Thanks!

MrsBrood: I love you too! You don't sound stalkerish at all, no more than I do with my thankyous anyway. I feel loved, not harrassed, so thankyooouuu. And don't do the dance of emptiness, hollowness and broken heartedness, it'll make me join in and, as I have said before, nobody wants that.

iamacullen(at)heart: greetings newcomer, welcome to my world. Thanks for the three reviews!

RabidReject: and more you shall get! Thanks!

BlackbAngel: yeah, I love Spike, he's hilarious. And the rescue was very efficient – about as likely as Buffy and Spike being in the cells next to each other, I'd say. Thankyou!

Breathe in Butterfly: there's plenty more Angel droolage to come! I'm glad I made you laugh, and thankyou!

Right, I think that's everyone. Words cannot describe my infinite love for you amazing people. Every word of every chapter is dedicated to all you guys. Especially 'however' and 'grinned'. Best words ever.

I'll shut up now, because this author's note is becoming my longest ever, which by now really is saying something. Enjoy!

---

Spike was thoroughly annoyed. Buffy and Angel had let him go, and the second he was free of them, he'd decided to test whatever had made his head hurt when he punched that guard. A random few people in the street was all it took to confirm his worst fears. He couldn't bite people. He couldn't hit people. He couldn't even stab people. It was completely unfair.

-

Sunlight fell in a thin line across the stone floor of the bedroom, where a curtain had been pulled shut hastily just before dawn. Buffy and Angel were asleep on the bed, dreaming together. Angel's arms were clasped tightly around her, as though afraid that someone would take her away from him. She in turn was as closely wrapped around him as possible, showing that no one ever could, however hard they tried.

It was hours more before they woke, Buffy first. She did not untangle herself from him, but studied his sleeping face. She traced a finger along his cheekbone and giggled when he caught her hand and kissed it, grinning tiredly.

"Marry me." His voice was still sleepy, and she wondered if he had been dreaming. He opened his eyes more fully. "Really, Buffy." He paused, looking straight in her eyes. "Will you marry me?" He was serious, she realised, and she didn't need to think. She kissed him, and pulled back only for a second, today just one word.

"Yes."

-

Buffy didn't tell anyone about the engagement, she needed a good moment to tell all her friends together. This was so important to her, and she wanted it to be perfect. Giles had asked her to check in with him during the day for a scooby meeting. They needed to work out what the military people wanted – and what they were doing in Sunnydale. She and Angel took the tunnels there, a combination of Angel's own sunlight problems and the fact that the organisation, whoever they were, might now be after her specifically. She wasn't sure what made her more nervous, telling her friends about her engagement of being caught by the creepy anti-demon league again.

They arrived behind Giles' apartment, coming up through a man hole, Buffy shoving Angel towards the door quickly before he got fried. Giles opened the door immediately for them both and Angel tumbled in, Buffy following behind, and trying not to look too excited.

Giles put the kettle on, and the scoobies began to talk about the new situation. Spike was somehow left out of the conversation, Buffy and Angel making a silent agreement not to include him in their relation of the rescue. Buffy wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but she knew that the scoobies' reaction to she and Angel saving Spike would probably arouse suspicion, and therefore further complication. She didn't want any more tension between herself and her friends; it was just too much trouble.

Eventually, once they had all realised that they knew almost nothing about the organisation (other than the fact that it was run by humans and had an underground lab, and that Professor Walsh was part of it), the conversation died out. Buffy decided to grab her chance to tell them about the engagement. _It's now or never; if I put it off I'll never pluck up the courage to tell them_. She took a deep, unneeded, breath in before starting her announcement.

"I've got something to—" There was a knock at the door. _Damn_.

"I'll get that," said Oz, standing up. Willow shifted on the sofa to allow him room to move, and he opened the door, turning around to face the others, who were now all wearing looks of astonishment. Oz didn't look too surprised however; he always knew this would happen.

Cordelia was standing in the doorway, one hand grasping the handle of her designer suitcase, the other linked with the arm of the man standing next to her, who was grinning nervously. He was nice-looking, but not at all what Buffy would have expected Cordy to go for.

"This is Doyle," said Cordy, looking up at him. She was quite clearly in love. She held out her hand, showing what was clearly an engagement ring. "We're getting married." Buffy gaped. _Bitch!_

---

Ah, Sunnydale gets wedding fever. Not much of a talkie, but all you need is looooooove.

It's a bit short (I'm going to try and start the next one this evening – if that alleviates the pain of waiting), but I hope you liked it anyway, and if so, you know what to do.

Er… by that I mean review.


	17. Letting the Dust Settle

I meant to update yesterday, but I didn't have time to finish this… sorry! Anyway, this chapter's a very in-betweeny one, and in segments. It's short and boring and pretty crap really, but I promise the next one will be way more interesting, and I should have it up tomorrow or Wednesday, hopefully tomorrow.

So, thankyou to:

michebabyblue: she's just gonna be a little annoyed, that's all.

RabidReject: I'm definitely bringing Faith back, not sure about Wesley.

flyersfan3588: I know, she even pisses people off by accident. Aww.

Breathe in Butterfly: the weddings are going to be the fluffiest things ever, I assure you.

rocks and glass: I'm glad you still think it's still great, this chapter may change your mind though, haha.

redrider6612: next chapter's gonna be longer, and there will be more fluff, I promise.

uskohakuchan: I forgive you! Haha.

MrsBrood: PLEASE say that to everyone you know! I'd laugh so much. Kill Doyle, though, never! I'd cry too much I wouldn't be able to type. I couldn't even bring myself to watch the episode where he dies… I'm really that pathetic.

BlackbAngel: glad you liked it. Buffy and Cordy, forever in competition. Ahhh.

Thankyou so much to all you guys, without you, today would have been crap… pier.

Here's the chapter, hope you like it. I have a new favourite word. 'Bitter'. Like how I feel after maths GCSE. Can you tell I'm in a very bad mood?

At least I never have to do maths again. Ever. I'll get on with the chapter now.

---

A week went by following the breakout, and the Initiative had had no luck tracking the escaped hostiles. Buffy Summers had not returned to college, and was not living at home. Although her mother had been spoken to, she had informed them that she had no idea where Buffy was.

They were pretty sure she was lying, but had no way to prove it. There was a possibility that she was actually unaware of what her daughter was (through subtle testing the Initiative had found nothing extraordinary about her – she was completely human). They were also aware that the hostiles had not escaped unaided – someone or something had broken them out. Due to the fact that both hostiles were clearly vampires, even considering Buffy's unusual powers, it was safe to assume that a vampire, probably related somehow to the escaped hostiles, was responsible for the breakout.

The idea of vampires working in packs was disturbing for Maggie Walsh, who was used to tackling individual vampires, incapable of any kind of strategy. Vampires working together, helping each other, and actually caring about each other meant bad news for the Initiative.

-

Buffy was angry with Cordelia all week. She knew it wasn't Cordy's fault really, but she couldn't help being pissed off about her moment being stolen. _I should've done it like she did_, she thought bitterly to herself, _quick and straight-to-the-point, without having to think about it_. If Angel hadn't stepped in behind her at Cordelia's announcement and given her a look of stern encouragement, she thought she probably would have started screaming in annoyance right then and there. Instead she saved it for when they got back to the mansion.

"It's not fair," she yelled the second they were home. "It was supposed to be _my_ special day! Now when am I going to tell them?" She paused, glaring at Angel. "It's not funny! Why are you smiling?"

"You're so beautiful when you're angry," he said, walking towards her. She fell into his arms, feeling her frustration ebb away as it always did when he held her. "We have all the time in the world to tell them, and to get married," he continued, "let Cordelia have her time now." Buffy sighed.

"Why are you always right?"

-

Spike wandered the streets of Sunnydale, starting to feel very hungry indeed. If it carried on like this, he'd have to start killing animals. The very idea of it sickened him, and he was put off even further by the fact that he knew that Angel and Buffy drank animal blood. They were to blame, he was certain. If it hadn't been for them, he and Dru would still be together, in some other part of the world. Happy, and eating people, and not caring about anything.

He wished they hadn't let him out – he'd rather be dead than like this. Humans walked past him without noticing, and he could do nothing but watch them go past. Occasionally, when it all got too much, he would grab someone and try again to bite them. But, again, the pain would flare in his head and stay for hours.

It left him hating the government very much indeed. _But then_, he mused _bitterly, I was never really into politics._

-

With Willow and Oz all coupled up, Buffy and Angel getting over the clause problem, and now Cordy returning, already engaged, Xander felt a little… left out. He hadn't minded being single when he knew that Cordy was too and that Buffy and Angel's relationship was never going to go anywhere, but now it felt lonely.

He moped around his basement for about a week when he wasn't getting fired from awful jobs. Willow offered him little comfort, as he didn't really want to tell her what he was feeling, thinking he'd sound stupid. This just irritated him further, and he spent Friday night home alone.

After hours of watching useless TV, he heard someone walking down the stairs.

"I've got enough pretzels, mom, don't worry," he said, without turning away from a teen soap he didn't know the name of.

"Xander." The voice didn't sound like his mother's. In fact, it sounded a little like

"Anya?!"

---

Well now, that was the most exciting moment in this chapter. Sorry again for the shittiness, but I had maths this morning and it doesn't usually lead to bright ideas. Urgh.

I have RS tomorrow though, and that's far more inspiring.

Review plzkthnx.


	18. Distractions

MY MUSE IS ALIIIIIIIIIVE! And I'm updating soooo quickly!

Anyway, thankyou to all you guys who said that last chapter could have been crappier, I wuv you. Ah, good mood today, doesn't it show!

flyerfan3588: I'm glad you didn't think it was crap! Thanks!

MrsBrood: I put you in detention? Sorry!!!!!!! I couldn't really fit droolage in this chapter… but I will make next one extra drooly just for you. Thankyou!

rocks and glass: well I hope this chapter convinces you to keep reading… thanks for the review!

redrider6612: haha good point, and thanks for the sympathy :). I made this one loooonger.

uskohakuchan: glad you liked it – and thankyou.

This chapter is much, much better than last chapter (I bloody well hope) and longer too. Yay. By the way, I couldn't resist stealing that line Spike says in 'Pangs'. It's just so weird and wonderful.

Enjoy!

---

It was Saturday morning, and the Scoobies had gathered once again. For once, they were discussing not battle plans, but wedding plans. Xander was absent, as were Angel and Doyle, and Oz had left early for band practice, meaning that Giles had gone to make a pot of tea quite a while ago, and not returned. As the conversation had now turned to the clothes that would be needed at the wedding, the Scooby girls doubted he'd be returning anytime soon.

"I'm still deciding on bridesmaid dresses," said Cordy, who was flicking through an enormous planner on her lap. There was a heap of bridal magazines at her feet, which Buffy was planning to steal as soon as no one was looking. "I can't decide between fuchsia or rose… Buffy, what do you think?" All eyes turned to Buffy, who was jerked out of a wedding daydream.

"Wha-? Oh, rose. Definitely go with the rose." She sat down suddenly, starting to worry about her own wedding. She had bridesmaid dresses to worry about too, and there were so many colours to choose from. Just looking at the colour pallet on the table, there were probably about 50 varieties of light blue, from 'ice blue' to 'sky blue'. She was dragged out of her stupor by a knock on the door.

Xander swaggered in, looking a little dishevelled but with an enormous grin on his face. He sat down on the sofa, the grin not sliding off at all as it previously had every time he saw Cordy. If Buffy hadn't been so wrapped up in wedding fantasies, she would have been able to tell that he had not spent the previous night alone.

"Hi," said Cordy, eyeing him suspiciously for a moment before continuing her bridesmaid rant. "So I need another bridesmaid. I have you, I have Willow… I tried contacting Harmony, but she's never home. I don't know how to get hold of her."

"She's a vampire," piped up Willow, "she's dating Spike now. Isn't that right, Buffy?" Buffy nodded vaguely, not listening at all. Cordy shrugged.

"My wedding's going to be indoors anyway. Doyle has hay fever." Cordy sighed, considering. "I'll give her a call," she said with an air of finality, "being dead is no reason to be rude." Willow looked a little worried at this, and looked sideways at Xander, who was still grinning like a lunatic, but whose mind was clearly elsewhere. Willow was starting to feel a little like the only one in the room – mentally at least.

-

Spike turned up at Angel's at about one o'clock in the afternoon. He ran in, screaming, covered in a blanket. Angel burst in, saw him, and calmed down.

"Oh. It's you." It took him a moment to realise how ridiculous Spike's presence was at this time of day. "What are you doing here?" Spike pulled the blanket back from his face and Angel started. He looked pale and drawn – quite ill, really. He clearly hadn't fed for quite a while.

"Spike had a little visit to the the vet," he stammered, shifting from foot to foot, "and now he doesn't chase the other puppies anymore." Angel rolled his eyes, and dragged Spike into the kitchen, thrusting a packet of pig's blood into his hands.

"Drink that, and shut up." He folded his arms and waited for Spike to comply. The packet was drained within seconds, and the initial satisfied look on Spike's face was replaced by one of disgust, as he came to his senses.

"Urgh!" Spike spat onto the floor. "Pig's blood! That's disgusting." Angel glared at him.

"I just saved your life. Again."

"I was not dying. And I could have broken out myself."

"You haven't fed since then, have you?" Angel was aware of something in his voice – concern? He shook it off, trying to sound irritated. "You could have gotten serious brain damage – not that it would have made much difference." Spike glared at him.

"Those government people _did_ something to me. I can't hurt people… it hurts if I do." He held his head, as though it was injured. Angel raised an eyebrow. _Hurts?_

"How does it hurt? Do you feel guilty… or ashamed?" He stepped closer to Spike, trying to see if there was any noticeable change.

"No, you ponce! It _hurts_. It hurts my head. I get a blinding migraine, not a pathetic sense of remorse! I don't have a soul!" He rubbed his head, and went over to sit on the couch, sighing. Angel stared at him, but was spared having to say anything more by Buffy entering.

"Angel," she said in a carrying voice as her heels clicked along the stone floor towards them. "Cordy had these bridal magazines and I thought I'd take a few – the dresses are incredible." Spike gaped.

"You're getting _married_?" He started to laugh, just as Buffy stepped into the room.

"Spike? What are you doing here? Wow, you look ill."

"Spike can't kill humans," said Angel flatly. "The military organisation which captured you both did something to him, to make it physically hurt him if he tries." Buffy gasped.

"Wow, they can do that?"

"Hey! It's not impressive! It's. Wrong." Spike was now looking as though he wished he'd gone somewhere else for help. Buffy was looking at him with mild interest, Angel with mild annoyance. He got up to leave, but noticed the bands of sunlight streaming into the room.

"You can stay here until the evening," said Buffy. Angel opened his mouth to protest, and she held a hand up to continue. "As soon as it gets dark, we're taking you to Giles'. We need to figure out what they did to you."

Angel was pretty annoyed by Buffy's suggestion – he'd wanted to throw Spike out as soon as possible so that he could spend the rest of the day with Buffy. Watching daytime soaps was not his idea of fun, and Spike was clearly not enjoying spending time with him. The only one who seemed to be enjoying herself was Buffy, who'd placed herself between them to ensure that there was at least no physical violence.

-

Giles surveyed Spike with a look of surprise mingled with deep dislike. The bleached-blonde vampire had said everything about his 'condition', and he had evidently never heard anything like it in his life.

"Well he's clearly not a threat," said Giles slowly to Buffy, when spike had finished whining. "He is incapable of harming any living thing, as far as we know, without experiencing… extreme physical pain." Buffy sighed. She had been hoping to spend the night patrolling with Angel. Of course, patrolling always led to other, far more interesting things. She mentally shook herself out of her naughty fantasies, half returning to the present situation. Spike was smirking at her, and she wondered if he could tell what she'd been thinking about. She had to think of something to say.

"So what do we do with him?" She glanced over to him again, where he was sitting, inspecting Cordelia's wedding file, looking a little confused.

"We should monitor his behaviour closely," said Giles, "if it becomes clear that whatever they did to him is wearing off, he should be…" he trailed off, but Buffy got the message. She didn't know how to say that she couldn't bring herself to kill Spike, that it was almost as though they were related now. _Well_, she thought, remembering the dream she'd had when she was turned, and Dru addressing her as a sister, _that's going a bit far. Vampire families are a liiiittle creepy_. She glanced back at the wedding file, which Spike had now tossed aide in favour of _Blood Rites and Sacrifices_. She sighed, absorbed again in a world of lilies and white lace. _And should I invite Spike to the wedding?_

---

Hope you enjoyed – I like it mucho mucho better than the last one. Cordy's reaction to vampire!Harmony was a little silly... but oh well.

Please review!


	19. Girl Problems

I just reposted this because of the MAJOR continuity error I just found – sorry! And thanks to BlackbAngel to pointing it out!

Wow, lots of reviews. I think there's a bit too many of you to say thankyou to individually (sorry), so thankyou to cullenluver, redrider6612, alBBie (three reviews! And I think my spelling gets slightly better as the story progresses, and the speaking thing too… hopefully, tell me what you think), Ksue (newperson!), RabidReject, rocks and glass, flyerfan3588, BlackbAngel, MrsBrood (the droolage at the end of the chap is for you!), michebabyblue and uskohakuchan. That is A LOT. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

Ahem. Anyway, I meant to put this up yesterday, but I still hadn't written the last paragraph. So viola, this morning. I think that's less than 24 hours at least.

---

Xander awoke to find Anya already pulling on her clothes. He rubbed his eyes, and glanced at the alarm clock next to him.

"Anya," he croaked, "it's five in the morning." She didn't reply immediately, taking a while to put her shoes on. When she turned to face him, she looked a little irritated.

"Isn't this what I'm meant to do?" she asked, her tone accusing. "Sneak out early so that nobody knows we're sleeping together?" She waited for an answer, he arms folded.

"No, Anya… that's not it." Xander got up, feeling incredibly groggy. He was not a morning person. "I'm just not ready to tell my friends about us."

"When will you be ready?" Anya demanded. "When will our relationship be important enough to tell people about?" She turned to leave, and Xander staggered out of bed, grabbing her weakly by the arm.

"Don't go. I'm sorry; I'll… tell them today." He turned and flopped back down on the bed, falling immediately asleep. Anya smiled down at him.

"You'll forget when you wake up," she said, not loudly enough to wake him again, "you always do." She lay down next to him, talking to him as though he was awake. "I really like you, Xander. Sometimes I think that if you were about to be eaten by a bunny, I might jump in the way and save you. Maybe. I definitely would if it was some sort of insect person." She considered this. "You don't like insect people," she added as an afterthought, hoping that saying that made it more meaningful. She sighed. She wasn't sure what to say to him, asleep or awake. Choosing the right words to make someone happy was not something she'd had to worry about for a very long time now. Of course, it didn't really matter now – he couldn't hear her.

-

Cordelia was in a panic. She had nothing blue to wear. The dress was perfect; she had something old, new and borrowed – but nothing blue.

"I have a blue hairslide," offered Willow pathetically. Cordy eyed the hairslide as though it was vermin of some sort.

"I am _not_ wearing anything from Wall-Mart at my wedding!" She turned to look in the mirror, her face tomato-red. Buffy burst in.

"Ok, Cordy, I have a blue brooch, a blue bracelet, and…er... that's it. Anyone else got anything?" She glanced around. Willow and Harmony shook their heads – Harmony rather absently, as she was holding a toy unicorn in front of the mirror, trying to make it look like it was flying. Everyone had been a little anxious about Harmony's presence initially, but she hadn't killed anybody. Yet. It seemed as though her turning hadn't changed her much at all, and because of this Buffy felt a strange kinship with her, but she wasn't going to admit that to anybody. Cordy clapped a hand over her eyes.

"I'm not going to have anything," she wailed, "the wedding's in a week and I'm not going be ready!" Harmony put the unicorn back on the shelf and turned to her best friend.

"You know," she said brightly, "you could always just wear blue underwear."

"Does that count?" Willow muttered. Buffy shrugged. Cordy, however, was looking at Harmony as though she'd just told her Gucci was giving away their Autumn collection to her for free.

"Harmony," she yelled, seizing her undead friend in a hug, "You're a genius!"

Buffy grinned and turned to Willow. "Well now, that's something I _never_ thought I'd hear."

-

In the hype around Cordy's wedding, part of Buffy was grateful that she hadn't told her friends. Cordy seemed pretty stressed out, and if Buffy waited a while, she could have planned a lot of the wedding before she got anyone else involved. And she and Angel had forever. Thinking that one word – forever – still seemed so strange to her. Of course, in her line of work she would be surprised if they really did last forever, but now it was a possibility. She could still be standing, her face unchanged, after her friends had been dead for centuries. Thinking about that, and then thinking about people getting married, made Buffy's head spin.

She tried to move onto lighter, brighter things. Her mind wandered back onto Cordy and Doyle. _What will their children look like?_ She amused herself for a moment, imagining how difficult quarter-demon kids would be to look after. She kept trying to convince herself that she didn't want children. It was too risky; they'd be in such terrible danger. It was selfish, and ridiculous. _I can't look after anything_, she told herself, _even thinking about having children is stupid, so stop it_.

Feeling more than a little miserable now, she detoured off to the mall. _Nothing like a bit of retail therapy to remind myself that I'll still look good in these clothes in 300 years' time_.

She sifted through the racks of bright tops and pants. She hated shopping alone, she realised, especially now. She had no idea whether or not the clothes suited her. Sighing, she went back to Angel's without buying anything.

-

He was exactly where she thought he'd be, reading. He smiled when she came in, putting his book down beside him.

"You're early," he noted.

"Shopping got boring," she replied without missing a beat. There were two hours until nightfall, and she wanted to make the most out of them.

-

Two hours later, all of Buffy's doubts had vanished. She wanted to spend eternity just as she was then. One hand wrapped around her boyfriend's – her fiancé's – neck, holding him close to her. He was exactly the same temperature as her, and there was no annoying breathing movement of his muscular chest beneath her. The nothingness of their bodies made them perfectly in tune. She smiled. This was perfect. Then she groaned, realising what time it was.

"We should really go patrol now."

---

Mmm… muscular… lol. Anyway, next chapter we're finally going to have Doyle saying something! Yay!

You like? Review!


	20. Boy Worries

Sorry I didn't post earlier. I was out Friday night and therefore ill yesterday. Vodka bad.

Thankyou to all my reviewy people: flyersfan3588, Ksue, redrider6612, rocks and glass, Breathe in Butterfly, iamacullen/cullenlover/whatever (lol), BlackbAngel and michebabyblue. Just to say specifically to BlackbAngel that I have gone back and removed the hideous continuity error, and that rocks and glass is completely right – eep I didn't even realise it 'til now. I'll try to make Angel less prop-ish.

You guys, I dunno what I'd do without you.

I can't write in Doyle's accent, because I'd just make it look retarded, so use your imagination with each line. It works for me.

---

There were three days to go until Cordy and Doyle's wedding. Other than the simple 'what am I going to wear?' and 'I'm going to have to see _them_ again' worries, it seemed that everyone was having their own concerns.

Xander was now so anxious about his relationship with Anya that he went to Doyle for advice.

"I'm sleeping with a girl – who I like – but I haven't told my friends. Is this wrong?" Xander was actually surprised that he managed to put it so bluntly, and Doyle looked taken aback for a moment.

"Well, yeah, I guess," was the reply. Xander didn't know if he would have been happy whatever Doyle had said. "If you like her, there's no reason why your friends shouldn't know – they're all paired off." Xander could see the point, and he knew deep down that telling his friends was the right thing to do.

"Thanks," he said to Doyle eventually. "I didn't really think I could talk to any of them about it." Doyle nodded and laughed slightly.

"Sometimes you need to tell things to someone you hardly know – it makes it easier." There was a pause as Xander mulled this over.

"This is a really girly conversation," he finalised.

-

Spike snuck into Angel's – and Buffy's too he supposed, she basically lived here now – mansion when they were out patrolling. He found the fridge pretty quickly, and thought he'd steal a couple of packets of pig's blood. The stuff was disgusting, but it was pretty much all he could drink now. He could buy human blood, but it was expensive. He was used to free, fun meals. He crept out almost silently, the packets of blood hidden under his coat, and walked slap bang into the ugliest-looking demon he'd ever seen. Out of habit, he punched it in what could have been a face, and it jerked back, making a noise somewhere between a slurp and a growl. He prepared himself for blinding head pain – but none came. _I can hit demons!_ The realisation hit him like a lightning bolt, and he drew his fist back to punch the thing again. The demon's head was lopped clean off its body, and the momentum of the (rather over-enthusiastic) punch sent Spike sprawling across the floor.

"Hey," said Buffy, pointing, "that's our blood!" Spike looked down. Sure enough, the packets had slipped out of his jacket. _Crap_. He got ready to push himself to his feet, but was yanked up instead by Angel.

"How could you hit that demon?" Angel demanded. Spike snorted.

"Well, you sliced its head off, didn't think I was making some kind of moral mistake. _So_ sorry." He knew that a sarcastic reply probably wasn't the best idea, but greeted Angel's punch-in-the-face with a punch of his own. "I can hit demons," he confirmed, both for them and for himself. He was surprised to be tackled by Buffy, who managed to hit him with such force that the two of them flew across the courtyard.

He recovered quickly, and pushed the tiny blonde away. She was astonishingly strong for someone so small. Angel walked over, rubbing his jaw.

"You were probably meant as some sort of experiment," he began, surveying Spike with a look of mild annoyance. Well duh, thought Spike, but the throbbing in his cheek told him not to say anything.

"Or a weapon," continued Buffy. She hadn't been hurt at all by crashing across the courtyard.

"A tool for killing other demons," Angel picked up as Buffy mused to herself. "They might have wanted to use you, to help them." He snorted. "Because that would have worked _so_ well." Spike pulled himself to his feet.

"Right. I'm going, before you can think up any more great theories to finish each other's sentences with." He sauntered off, his coat billowing behind him. He'd managed to keep one packet of blood hidden, which was all that was stopping him from turning around and beating Angel's face to a pulp.

"See you at the wedding!" Buffy called after him, as he disappeared with a hint of a smirk on his face.

-

Buffy didn't seem at all worried about Spike's new discovery, and this unnerved Angel slightly. He wondered if Spike would try to hurt her now – so much had changed since he'd first met Spike, and he knew the peroxide-blonde vampire could be unpredictable. He supposed he shouldn't worry for now – he and Buffy could win against Spike easily, and none of the Scoobies were in danger from him.

He continued to worry about Buffy though. She seemed comfortable enough, but some part of him still felt uneasy with her. Getting married seemed so human – and they weren't human, they never would be. He still had trouble remembering that Buffy was a vampire now. Seeing her walk in the sun, and smile and laugh, that seemed normal. That seemed as though it was meant to be that way. It was at night, when she prowled through the graveyards with yellow eyes, and grinned her sharp new smile after the kill. The blood and the teeth seemed unnatural still.

He supposed that he would come to accept it in time – after all, the first evil had hinted that he would do this. Some part of him had always known that it had to happen at some point. Better now, better earlier. She had what girls her age would kill to have – and more, with the Gem of Amara. She was lucky. And he was lucky to have her, and his soul permanent.

He glanced sideways at her, completely oblivious to his thoughts. She was beautiful, and perfect, and his. And they were alike now, he remembered. He had so much to teach her, and eternity to teach it in. maybe this wasn't so bad, he had a lot to be happy about.

---

Not the best one ever, but it fills the time. Only two chapters to go, guys! Next time… wedding number one! Will there be chaos? Hell yes!

And REVIEW! I am lost without reviews!


	21. For Better or For Worse

PENULTIMATE CHAPTER! I am very excited… and a little sad. Also, I have no more GCSEs – ever! Sadly that means my social life will be improving, so I might not have quite as much time to write.

Thankyou to all my reviewers, I love you as always. I fee like doing individual thankyous, being free from exams 'n' all.

Ksue: I'm sorry for the shortness! This one's a little longer, I think.

redrider6612: of course I'm going to write more stories! I have a few ideas lurking in my brain.

rocks and glass: thankyou so much, I hope I keep Angel's 3D-ness up.

flyersfan3588: hell yeah the chaos is coming!

uskohakuchan: Bridezilla! Haha, that would be hilarious, but it's a leeetle different.

alBBie: I've totally messed with canon. Just forget all of season 4, that should help, haha.

BlackbAngel: yep, Angel is gonna be more central again, especially as he's getting married!

I'm sorry if I got anything wrong with the marriage bit – I looked it up on the Internet and everything. So please, please don't tell me I missed out something important. The last wedding I went to was when I was eleven. I have never been a bridesmaid – sob.

Can you have a nighttime wedding? I presume so… but if not, artistic licence!

---

The wedding was beautiful. Cordy was a vision in the white dress, and Buffy prayed that she'd look just as good in hers. She still felt a certain amount of competition with the brunette, even if they were out of highschool now. As Buffy walked up the eisle, trailing Cordy with Harmony and Willow, she felt as though this was how a wedding should be. It was traditional, in a huge, ornate church. The stained-glass windows kept out any ray of sun – this would be a good church to get married in if it didn't make her feel so uncomfortable. Harmony was fidgeting even more next to her, constantly glancing at the crucifixes everywhere. Buffy felt a prickling at the back of her neck, and a deep, primal fear. It was as though she was a child again, afraid that there was something under the bed. It was a stupid fear, but it gnawed away at her, and threatened to spoil her enjoyment of the wedding.

She shook the feeling off and kept smiling all the way up the eisle, where Cordy stepped up to meet Doyle. The priest shot both Buffy and Harmony an extremely nervous look, which made Buffy smile. He shivered and turned back to the couple, who were oblivious to the priest's nervousness.

"Do you, Allen Frances Doyle, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richeror for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do you part."

"I do." He smiled at Cordelia, who smiled nervously back.

"And do you, Cordelia Chase, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for betteror for worse, for richeror for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do you part."

"I do," said Cordy firmly, as Harmony squealed with joy.

"I now pronouce you man and wife," continued the priest. "You may kiss the bride." They leant in to kiss each other, and at the moment their lips met, one of the stained glass windows shattered.

Soldiers, clearly from the Initiative, burst through the windows and doors. The wedding guests screamed as they were shattered with broken glass. Buffy had never seen Cordy look so angry – her fists and teeth were clenched and she was shaking with fury.

"What are you doing here?" Cordy screamed at the masked soldiers. They didn't reply, but pointed weapons at Buffy, who nodded slowly, understanding what was happening.

"Hostile 18." The voice of the speaker was muffled by their mask, but Buffy recognised it immediately.

"Riley Finn." Her voice sounded cold – even to her. "Let's take this outside. This is a wedding, and there are civilians. People could get hurt." The men did not put their guns down.

"Please," begged Buffy, relieved to see emotion returning to her voice. "This isn't fair." She walked slowly forwards, her hands up and her face set in a grim expression.

"No!" Angel was beside her, gripping her hand in his. "You can't take her." The soldiers looked at each other – or turned their heads at least, their eyes were covered.

"Another vampire." One of the soldiers stepped forward, brandishing a small scanning device. "Same bloodline. Did you release Hostiles 17 and 18 from the facility?"

"They matter to me. You wouldn't understand." At Angel's words, Buffy glanced around for Spike. He was nowhere to be seen. _Angel cares about Spike_, she realised. _He really did want to save him_. This confused her – at many times she thought the two vampires hated each other, but she realised their bickering, and the fact that they had known each other so long, showed that deep down they really did care. _Your family are the ones that piss you off the most_.

"The relationships between vampires are of little concern to us."

"Really?" asked Buffy. "I thought you were studying us, testing us." The use of the word 'us' disturbed her slightly, but she embraced it and continued. "If you want to understand us, you need to look at interraction, family, love." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cordelia smiling slightly. "We'll come with you. Leave these people alone, they haven't done anything wrong – and for that matter neither have I." Buffy thought she saw Angel wince on 'I', but she chose not to look at him directly. Riley nodded and gave a small signal to the other soldiers. Buffy and Angel walked slowly outside.

It felt surreal, standing there in their wedding clothes. Angel's suit and Buffy's bridesmaid dress looked so wrong teamed with the stern uniforms of the soldiers. Both of them looked somehow more human. The soldiers were like a faceless entity. Riley turned back to them, about to speak or shoot.

Suddenly, impossibly, Spike appeared, a grenade in hand. It was hurled at the soldiers, who were unable to do anything. Buffy and Angel flew backwards from the force of the explosion, catapulted once more through the church doors. They landed on their feet, their clothes singed. The smoke was clearing, and Buffy could hear screams.

"Spike!" She yelled. She didn't know if she was angry with him for what he'd done, or concerned for his safety. Somewhere in between, she supposed.

"Oi Slayer!" He looked a little burnt, his face covered in soot, but he was grinning all over his face. "I can still throw things at people!" He rubbed his head. "Hurts a bit… but still!" He turned to inspect the chaos. "A few down."

"Spike!" yelled Buffy again. "You can't do that! You can't just kill people!" Spike sighed.

"Evil, luv," he said mildly as he lit a cigarette with a piece of burning church door.

-

The wedding continued after this incident. Any soldiers who had not been knocked unconscious (or worse – but Spike had dealt with any bodies, so that none of the guests would find out) had scarpered.

The guests were in surprisingly good spirits considering they had all nearly been killed. Willow stood watching the wedding from her position next to Harmony and Buffy – who was looking a little scorched, but alive and fairly chirpy. The rest of the wedding passed by in a blur.

The throwing of the bouqeat was pretty chaotic, although it paled in comparison to earlier events. There was a considerable bit of scrabbling, and when it was over, Buffy stood in the centre in her burnt blue dress, holding up the bouqeat with a smile on her face.

"I'm getting married next," she said. Angel wove through the crowd to kiss her, Buffy clasping the flowers behind his back. Cordy stepped forward.

"My God, Buffy. You somehow managed to make _my_ wedding all about _you_."

---

Holy shit, I killed the Initiative! Well… some of them. Perhaps. They could still be alive, you never know. Think what you want to think. Ah, silliness.

Is it just me, or did that get a little Spangely? Hahahahahaha, totally unintentional.

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	22. Eternity

I AM SO SORRY. I've been uber-busy this last week (end of exams, much partying, many hangovers) so I have had no time at all to write this. Today, however, I do, and I am determined to have this posted! This is the last chapter! Ever! And it's finally here! Hellz Yeah!

I am going to thank all you fabulous people who reviewed last chapter.

alBBie: hope you enjoy this when you get back! Thanks for all the reviews!

BlackbAngel: _yeah_ I did! I never liked them either, they were boring, and annoying, and pointless. Thankyou for all your reviews!

Ksue: I think this chapter is about the same length as last one… hopefully it's long enough. Thanks for all your reviews!

redrider6612: no, that wasn't the end – this is! Thanks for reviewing – I think you've done every single chapter!

RabidReject: look out indeed. Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for all the reviews!

Breathe In Butterfly: long review, yay! Sorry to end it and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your reviews!

rocks and glass: I thought stained glass windows did block the sun! oh well, I was wrong. The wedding was at night, so that's why no burning vampires. Thanks for the advice – and for all your reviews so far!

flyersfan3588: glad you loved it, and here is your more! Thankyou for all the reviews!

I LOVE YOU GUYS! And you people who have my favourited, I love you too, and I would love you even more if you reviewed! Come on, last chapter! Just this once! Pretty please?

Anyway, this author's note is ridiculous, so here's your story.

---

It was a couple of months before Buffy and Angel's wedding was finalised. Eventually, they settled on having it on Christmas Day, a year after they had taken that walk in the snow together. There was no snow this year, but the occasion still tingled with the magic of that day.

The ceremony was beautiful – outside, at night, fairy lights glittering in the trees. An aisle had been created, lined with flowers with chairs on either side. even though it was winter, the flowers looked just as healthy as they would in spring. There had been a certain amount of magical help with this, of course, but it seemed as though even nature was smiling down on the wedding.

Buffy almost glowed in her dress – a long, white gown sprinkled with crystals – and her hair flowed around her face in golden ringlets. Her skin looked dewy and her eyes shone with excitement as she walked up the aisle, Willow and Cordy in tow.

Everything about the wedding was delicate and sweet. The flowers, the decorations, the rings, Willow and Cordy in their rose-coloured dresses with flowers woven into their hair.

There were not many guests – just close friends and family. Buffy was surprised to see that Drusilla had shown up, and not eaten anybody (although she had spent a memorable five minutes asking a bunch of flowers why it wouldn't speak to her). Everyone seemed to be entranced by the beauty of the occasion.

Although it was two in the morning when the reception started, almost all the guests were used to being at least semi-nocturnal, so it was still a lively party. Joyce Summers was probably the most exhausted of the guests, and she sat drinking diet coke, trying desperately to keep her eyes open. Spike was taking advantage of the freely-flowing alcohol, and was spinning Harmony around the room while she giggled and tottered, equally drunk but with less experience in this area. Amazingly, she was still on her feet, well-practiced in walking in heels, at least. Spike was clearly trying to make Dru jealous, but she was completely ignoring him, and trying to engage Xander in a conversation about sawdust and pigeons.

-

The time for speeches arose, and first to make a speech was Giles.

"Buffy is like a daughter to me," he began. It was clear even from the starting point that this would be a teary speech – and there were still more speeches to come. "She deserves someone who will make her happy. I know that there have been trials in her relationship with Angel, but not everything can happen smoothly." Buffy's bottom lip was quivering, and Willow was reaching for a napkin.

"When two people love each other this much, they will overcome any obstacle that stands between them. Buffy and Angel have done this. They have made sacrifices, but in the end they have pulled through. They are, truly, an example to us all." He raised his glass to toast them, smiling first at Buffy, then with a kind nod to Angel. Buffy smiled appreciatively at him, through the tears that were running down her cheeks.

Giles' speech had been short, but it carried a clear message to the guests who understood what it meant. Giles had forgiven Angel. There would always be a slight tension that would never be erased – to think it could be was ridiculous and over-idealistic – but they could speak again without the aversion of eyes, and the blame-and-shame of recent meetings.

The next speech was Spike's. He stumbled up to the microphone. He spoke as though he had learned the words by heart recently, and completely forgotten them.

"Angel and Buffy have a love that is… oh sod it." He grabbed the microphone, seeming to have gotten a grip on himself. "I told you two once that you'd never be friends." The slur was still slightly in his voice, but from the look in his eyes it was clear he was speaking from his heart. "I told you you'd love each other forever – and I was right." He grinned at both of them, raising the bottle of champagne he'd swiped. "Yippee for me." With that, he took a liberal swig of champagne, and keeled over. Buffy was astonished that he'd planned any kind of speech, and that (for him) he'd been so sweet. Joyce thought vaguely to herself that perhaps she'd rather Buffy had married Spike; he seemed like such a nice young man.

-

Eventually it was dancing time, and Buffy and Angel moved to the floor. 'My Heart Will Go On' played out, as they spun slowly.

"I love you," whispered Angel in Buffy's ear. She smiled and rested her head against him.

"I love you too." Other couples spilled out onto the floor. Willow and Oz danced nearby, Cordy and Doyle across from them. Xander was spinning Anya around behind Spike and Harmony, who were staggering around and laughing silently. Buffy and Angel kept dancing, absorbed in themselves as though there was no one else in the world.

Suddenly, bizarrely, the air was filled with falling snow just as it had been a year ago. Cold and perfect, the snow twirled to the ground. Buffy and Angel, dancing in the centre of everyone else, hardly noticed as they continued to dance. When they saw it, and felt the gentle iciness of the snowflakes, they looked around in wonder, still holding onto each other as though they would never let go.

They would always have enemies, and they would always have friends. The specifics would change with the passing of the years, this they knew. But something would stay solid – their love. Eternal, burning, and never fading.

---

I. Actually. Cried. Wow, I'm pathetic LOL.

Review, everybody! That includes you; people who have me alerted or favourited but do not review! Do it, do it now! Pleeeeease!


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